Article content

VICTORIA — Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps says her thinking on resource extraction wasn’t shifted by a recent tour of the Alberta oilsands.

“What I am left with from my visit is that while there is only one Earth, one climate and one shared future for the planet, there are two different energy paradigms in Canada right now,” Helps writes in a blog entry about her visit last Friday to Cenovus’s Foster Creek site.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'No end to oil-and-gas extraction': Victoria mayor not moved after oilsands tour Back to video

She said she went with an open mind, and while she returned with a deeper understanding of improvements being made in extraction processes, her belief that we have to transition away from fossil fuels has not changed.

“They explained how that in developing the plant they had studied wildlife movements to learn where wildlife bridges need to be built and — where possible — they work around sensitive wildlife habitat,” Helps writes.

“They said they have detailed restoration plans. They also showed me examples of how water is reused, methane is captured and reused, each camp building has its own sewage-treatment system and all the water is reused. There are lots of closed-loop systems.”