Official Petition
Asking the Federal Government to continue in perpetuity the moratorium on offshore oil exploration and development n the Canadian Pacific
To the House of Commons in Parliament assembled - the petition of the undersigned citizens of Canada, who now avail themselves of their ancient and undoubted right, thus to present a grievance common to your petitioners in the certain assurance that your Honourable House will provide a remedy, DO HUMBLY SHEWETH;
WHEREAS these are high unavoidable risks of a catastrophic oil spill associated with offshore oil drilling and extraction on the seismically-active, storm-swept, high-energy coast off Vancouver island, in the Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound, and;
WHEREAS the "small" soil spill washing up on the west coast of Vancouver Island I January of 1989 vividly demonstrates that a large oil spill would have devastating consequence to not only the sea birds and sea life but also to the way of life of thousands of natives and non-native residents living and depending on the renewable fishery and tourism resources along the cost, and;
WHEREAS the consumption of fossil fuels is causing global warming through the emission of carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere.
THEREFORE, WE THE UNDERSIGNED, believing that the risk outweigh the benefits, ask that the current moratorium continue on all hydrocarbon exploration and development activities in the coastal waters off British Columbia, and that the Canadian government indicate to industry that this moratorium will not be lifted in the future, and we further ask that the money currently being spent by the federal government subsidizing offshore oil drilling on the Pacific coast be used instead to promote of energy conservation and the development and use of alternative, sustainable and environmentally benign sources of energy.
And as in duty bound we, your petitioners will ever pray.
