Premier Christy Clark said Northern Gateway has yet to meet any conditions her government has set for the controversial pipeline project.
During a news conference in Vancouver on Wednesday, Clark said her party's position on the plan to ship diluted bitumen and related products from Alberta's oil sands to Kitimat for export to Asian markets remained unchanged.
"We have five conditions, three of them are intended to protect our environment, one to include First Nations and one to make sure we get our fair share before we would even consider the proposal to go ahead," she said. "None of that has changed and none of those conditions have been met so far."
The environmental review for the $6.5 billion project is ongoing, with National Energy Board Joint Review Panel hearings in Vancouver this week for members of the public to give 10-minute statements on the plan. Demonstrators have taken to the street outside the hearings to protest the plan and some even made their way into the hearing room on Tuesday.
Among those protesting were members of the Idle No More First Nations movement. Clark said she respects the choice some First Nations groups have made by taking to the streets, but believes more progress can be made by meeting and discussing.
"If we want to make sure First Nations communities are Idle No More, [we must] make sure that we're including them in the economic benefits that they deserve just as much as everyone else in our province does," she said.
Clark said the best way to lift First Nations communities out of poverty, is to include them in natural resource development projects.
"I would argue, and I hear this from First Nations leaders often, that we are doing a better job of working with First Nations than any other province in Canada," Clark said. "What we are doing is trying to make sure that we are including First Nations in benefiting from responsible resource development and extraction."
Of the five conditions the province has set out for Northern Gateway, the most work has been done on the demand for a world-class land-based spill response plan. In November, Environment Minister Terry Lake announced a framework was in place for a polluter-pay system.
The government is also seeking assurances a world class marine spill response plan will be in place.
The third environmental condition involves the National Energy Board to give Northern Gateway a green light, but the Joint Review Panel examining the application isn't expect to provide its final report until the end of December.
The final demand - that B.C. get its fair share of the revenue from the pipeline - has met stiff resistance from Alberta Premier Alison Redford.
The Joint Review Panel will continue to hear public statements in Vancouver and Kelowna this month, before resuming the cross-examination phase of the process in Prince Rupert in February.
