"My bird's eye view of the issues of the Gateway project to the west coast is not so much the pipeline itself but more so the issue of tankers on the rugged west coast of BC."

One thing that I find interesting is that most people are unaware that Alaska has been passing tankers off the coast of BC for the last 40+ years. However, they do have to steer clear of BC boundaries so the risk is mitigated. Shipping tankers to Kitimat is definitely a risk that should not be taken lightly. Modern technology has made tankers significantly safer than in the past, but as you said it's a risk with devastating consequences.

"I'd love to see the bitumin refined in Alberta and the subsequent addition of value."

I don't think this is practical. Refineries are typically located near the end markets because they produce a wide range of products (gasoline, asphalt, plastics, etc). Canada already has enough refineries to meet domestic demand. It's far easier to export one raw product than hundreds of finished products. It's also a lot safer transporting large volumes of crude oil rather than gasoline. However, I'd still like to see the bitumen upgraded in Canada. (For those unaware, bitumen is UPGRADED to crude oil which is then REFINED into the final products like gasoline). Upgrading is a value added process that will create jobs in Canada while still allowing the refining to happen near the end markets (China). Upgrading the product in Canada would also mean that transporting the oil to the coast would require only a single pipeline. (Bitumen cannot be pumped on it's own, it has to be thinned with diluent in order to be pumped. The diluent simply cycles between Alberta and BC continuously, requiring a return pipeline). Unfortunately, the economics do not support upgrading of crude oil in Canada. Suncor had spent $3.5B on an upgrader and they may be cancelling it because it is still not economical to complete it (article here).

As a side note, it's incredible how much of an investment it would cost to upgrade all of the crude oil in Canada. Suncor's proposed $11.6B upgrader would be capable of processing 269,000 barrels per day. Oil sands production is estimated to reach 3,500,000 barrels per day by 2020.