Pamela Anderson Videos: Speaks out in opposition to oil tankers in her home waters: Ladysmith native Pamela Anderson, who found fame by guarding California's beaches in the popular TV series Baywatch, is lending her name to protecting British Columbia's beaches from oil tankers. The actor is featured in a video recorded on a rocky beach at her waterfront home in Ladysmith.
"This is my grandmother's property that I actually live on now," she said on the video. "I learned how to swim at Transfer Beach. I love it here. And obviously this is what I consider my home. I do need to protect it for future generations." The video, shot by Nanaimo filmmaker Paul Manly, shows Anderson paddling in the water and walking barefoot over rocks as she explains her concern about possible oil spills. "When I heard that there was going to be crude oil shipped out of Vancouver, I had to say 'no tanks,' " she said.
"I have been all over the world and this is definitely, by far, the most beautiful part of the world," she said. "We need to protect the environment, sealife, birds and animals.""If there was an oil spill here, I don't think it would ever recover."There are two areas of concern about oil tankers off the B.C. coast — crude shipped from a terminal in Burnaby, with tankers manoeuvring through the confines of Second Narrows and then through the Gulf Islands and Juan de Fuca Strait, and proposals for a pipeline from the Alberta oilsands to Kitimat with tankers then traversing northern B.C. waters.
On Tuesday, the federal opposition stepped up its pressure on the Harper government to ban oil-tanker traffic off the B.C. coast, passing a motion in the House of Commons calling on the Conservatives to legislate a formal moratorium.The motion urges a ban on traffic through the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound.
Manly said Anderson contacted him after seeing his film about Sombrio Beach. He then discovered they had both learned to swim at Ladysmith's Transfer Beach, although they did not know each other as children, and were both passionate about preventing oil spills. "She's a real sweetheart and really down to Earth," Manly said. "It's like she's got her Hollywood persona . . . and the real Pamela who is a completely different person — a very bright, smart person."