STUDENT VOICE: Pipeline a bad idea for Vancouver Island
Published 11:30 am Monday, May 18, 2026
From pristine forests to shimmering waterfalls, British Columbia is a beautiful place to grow up. Especially on the Island, we are so fortunate to call this place home.
You know one thought I’ve never had when thinking about B.C.?
“If only there were more pipelines. This place could really use an oil spill or two.”
That’s right folks, nobody asked for it and yet Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, darling of the U.S. State Department, has somehow managed to wrangle a pipeline deal from the federal government.
It’s a feat made all the more impressive when you consider what she doesn’t have.
Things like the consent of B.C. Premier David Eby and Indigenous rights-holders.
Or a repeal of the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, or even a proponent for the bitumen pipeline itself.
Let’s be clear here: this pipeline is a bad idea. Not only do we already have many lucrative economic projects in B.C. that should take precedence, but the proposed pipeline won’t even be operational until 2033 or 2034. At that point, the global transition to clean energy will be well underway.
At a time when 200 species a day are going extinct, countries like Saudi Arabia are projected to be mostly unlivable by 2050, and deadly extreme weather events are becoming dangerously normalized, why do we need another pipeline?
This is part of a dangerous trend, when countries in unstable times rely on the “safe and established” oil and gas industry for energy, rather than investing in newer and better infrastructure. This industry has done a very good job of selling itself as necessary and reliable in a world that needs to move on from it.
The truth is, renewable energy is a cleaner and better alternative. According to data from the United Nations, seven million people die prematurely from air pollution every single year. We are choking on the toxic gases caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and a global shift to clean energy will literally save millions of lives.
It also makes more sense economically. According to the University of Calgary, Alberta has lost more than 40,000 jobs in the oil and gas sector since 2013. Meanwhile, opportunities in renewable energy are growing faster than the federal Liberal caucus.
It’s also the most affordable power source for most of the world. About 90% of renewable energy projects are cheaper than their fossil fuel counterparts, according to a cost analysis from the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Another huge benefit? Renewable energy, as its name suggests, doesn’t run out and isn’t reliant on global markets. Once the infrastructure is built, as long as we have water, sun, and wind, we have power!
Youth overwhelmingly support a future with clean energy. We support climate solutions because we’re the ones who will have to live with the consequences of fossil fuel overuse. Our world and our future are being brutalized before our eyes, as oil and gas executives blithely sit back and profit.
As the premier said in his fiery statement addressing the MOU between Alberta and Ottawa: it’s time to stop rewarding bad behaviour.
Premier Smith’s pipeline would be ecologically devastating, in direct opposition to the people affected most by it, and economically foolish.
We’re better than that. It’s time to start acting like it.
Gabriel Mackintosh is a student at Royal Bay Secondary School.