A spokesman for Greenpeace Canada is concerned about today's federal announcement confirming a 1.5 billion dollar plan to protect oceans and coastlines.
Keith Stewart is suspicious of the timing since the Trudeau government is set to reveal their decision on the contentious Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion December 19th.
"The federal government is clearly trying to get the Kinder Morgan pipeline built. One of the obstacles is the government of BC has said they want a world class spill response. This was an attempt to move in that direction."
But Stewart says despite promises of a world class response, there is no known way to clean up bitumen:
"If you can't sort of demonstrate that we would be able to clean it up if it happens, then I don't care what you call it, it isn't good enough."
Stewart says the plan was also lacking important details -- like how we will protect orcas in the event of a spill.