Let's try to boil this B.C.-Alberta pipeline-compensation dispute down to a neighbourhood level.
If your next-door neighbour is required to cut a sewer line across the corner of your property, you must have guarantees that no future problems will arise from that intrusion.
Appropriate remuneration must be agreed upon to compensate for any disturbance of your garden before work can be undertaken.
If neighbours who previously got along well cannot come to an agreement on this intrusion, then the situation could escalate into an unnecessary confrontation that serves no one well.
In the oil-pipeline debate, if Alberta needs access to B.C. lands, then hard and fast rules need to be in place before any intrusion is allowed to proceed.
B.C. will not be bullied by Alberta or Ottawa.
C.R. Clarke
Victoria