PM defends ‘responsible’ $4.5B pipeline purchase
SHERWOOD PARK A handful of protesters outside the gates of the Kinder Morgan pipeline terminal didn’t bother Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday afternoon.
Mostly drowned out by the sound of trucks rumbling along Baseline Road, they chanted “Separate oil and state” while Trudeau spoke to workers and toured the facility where the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline to B.C. begins.
It was Trudeau’s second visit to the Edmonton region in less than a month, occurring one week since his government announced it would buy the existing Trans Mountain pipeline to the West Coast and all of Kinder Morgan’s core Canadian assets for $4.5 billion to push through the pipeline expansion.
In return, Kinder Morgan will go ahead with its original plan to twin the pipeline this summer while the sale is finalized, which likely won’t happen until August.
Construction is yet to resume in Alberta; the oil giant and feds still have details to iron out.
Trudeau didn’t take questions from reporters during a brief stop on his tour, but said: “Public investment has always been a part of developing natural resources in Canada.”
Gesturing toward the protesters, Trudeau said some folks still think there’s a choice to be made between protecting the environment and growing the economy.
“We know that a responsible government needs to do both of those together, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here,” he said.
Emma Jackson from Climate Justice Edmonton agrees with Trudeau on that point — but said it depends on what kind of economy.
“If we’re talking about a fossilfuel-based economy that locks us into further extraction, that increases our emissions, then no — it doesn’t go hand-in-hand with the environment,” Jackson said.
The $4.5 billion being spent on the pipeline should instead be invested in renewables, she said.
“It is absolutely unacceptable to be using taxpayers dollars — in an era of climate crisis and supposed reconciliation — to be building a pipeline,” she said.
Jackson was one of seven protesters.
The group held aloft signs saying “Stop the Kinder Morgan buyout” and “Albertans against Kinder Morgan.”
There’s only one pipeline development that would make Jackson happy.
“Kill it.”
Standing mere metres from the pipeline’s so-called Mile Zero, Trudeau pointed out that Canada’s oil is currently prisoner of a single market.
“Access to new markets across Asia will make us better able to develop responsibly our resources, better able to invest in the kinds of renewables and protections we need,” he said.
The federal government’s purchase is an investment in jobs in Alberta and across Canada, Trudeau said, and the “thousands and thousands of people across the country who make a living and raise their families by working hard in the oilpatch.”
“It’s also part of recognizing that we need to move forward in responsible ways to get our resources to market while we protect the environment,” he continued.