TRANS MOUNTAIN CRISIS
Notley vows to raise stakes
EDMONTON Alberta MLAs from all sides of the political divide spent Monday talking about repercussions for British Columbia over the increasingly bitter pipeline standoff, but took no concrete steps to do anything about it.
It’s likely that won’t happen for days, when the government introduces measures to diminish the flow of oil west, as promised during last month’s throne speech.
The lack of action followed Monday morning comments by Premier Rachel Notley that British Columbia’s actions to halt construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion aren’t “too far off ” from a constitutional crisis.
“If the national interest is given over to the extremes on the left or the right, if the voices of the moderate majority of Canadians are forgotten, the reverberations of that will tear at the fabric of Confederation for many, many years to come,” Notley said.
“We’re not going to let that happen.”
What followed was a question period drenched by political backand-forth about Sunday ’s move by Kinder Morgan to halt non-essential spending on the $7.4-billion project.
Afterwards, Energy Minister Margaret McCuaig-Boyd proposed a motion urging the B.C. government to “put the country first,” cease its attempts to harass the project, and demand concrete action by Ottawa.
Then United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney jumped to his feet, proposing an emergency debate instead.
“I can’t think of a matter that’s more urgently in the public interest,” Kenney said.
New Democrat house leader Brian Mason urged the Speaker to instead allow the assembly to pursue McCuaig-Boyd’s motion, which would mean tangible action. That didn’t happen.
The result was two hours of MLAs getting to their feet to point across the aisle. For New Democrats, the UCP’s leader did nothing to get a pipeline to tidewater while he was in federal government and the party belittles a climate plan that secured Trans Mountain approval. For United Conservatives, the NDP wasn’t hammering Ottawa hard enough and has ignored the Opposition’s calls for action.
Meanwhile, the federal government is considering investment in the expansion to help get the controversial project completed.
Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said federal investment isn’t a certainty, but it’s among the options on the table, along with legal and regulatory manoeuvres.
Federal movement in that direction echoed a call from Notley, who told a news conference Sunday the Alberta government is prepared to buy a stake in the expansion to ensure it gets built.
She repeated her message Monday, saying the province will be a “very, very determined investor, and we will succeed.”
Kenney also doubled down his support for public dollars backstopping the expansion.
“I have fought the idea of corporate welfare my whole life. I don’t like the idea of putting taxpayer dollars at risk in any kind of private sector venture, but I think these are truly unique circumstances,” he said on his way into the legislature Monday.
“We are facing a catastrophe for our economic future if we don’t get a coastal pipeline.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he had “a long conversation” with B.C. Premier John Horgan by phone Sunday night, and said he doesn’t think Horgan should be intervening in an area of federal jurisdiction.
Notley said she also had a “very frank chat” with Horgan outlining Alberta’s plans, and spoke with Trudeau.
The federal government has previously stepped in to assist aerospace workers in Quebec and protect auto industry jobs in Ontario, Notley said, and needs to do the same for Western Canada energy sector jobs.
Trudeau’s cabinet will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday in Ottawa on the pipeline controversy.
Notley will head to Toronto later this week to meet with economists, investors, and federal officials.