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“This project will not survive public scrutiny unless Enbridge takes far more seriously their obligation to engage the public and to answer those very legitimate questions about the way in which they’ve operated their business in the very recent past,” Moore told a Vancouver radio station on Wednesday.

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The provincial Liberal government in British Columbia — trailing the anti-Gateway main opposition party ahead of an election next year — toughened its tone last month and vowed to block the pipeline unless Alberta handed over more royalties.

Moore compared Enbridge’s record with that of Kinder Morgan, which he said had made all the right moves as it went ahead with plans to more than double the capacity of its Trans Mountain Line, which also runs from Alberta to British Columbia.

“There’s a difference, I think, night and day between (Kinder Morgan) … and Enbridge, which I think their track record is not one that I think any other company should follow if they want to do business in British Columbia,” he said.

Enbridge says the number and size of spills from pipelines have decreased over the past decade and that, despite its high-profile accidents, the company’s record is good.

“Over the last decade we’ve transported almost 12 billion barrels of crude oil with a safe delivery record better than 99.999 percent,” Al Monaco, Enbridge’s president, said in a statement. “That’s good, but for us, it’s not good enough. We will never stop striving for 100 percent.”