Notley pitches pipeline as buffer against U.S. threats

Premier Rachel Notley appealed to Canadians on Tuesday to support the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion as a bulwark against U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade threats.

Her comments were similar to sentiments expressed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government, the soon-tobe owners of the pipeline project and the focus in recent days of scathing attacks by Trump, who launched a trade fight two weeks ago with tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

Speaking at the Global Petroleum Trade Show in Calgary, Notley said recent events have made the United States’ status as the “monopoly buyer” of Canadian energy “harder and harder to stomach.”

“I have a message to send to folks beyond this room, to British Columbia and to all Canadians. If the last days and weeks tell us anything, it’s that we, as Canadians, need to take control of our economic destiny.

“That means being strategic with our resources, our wealth and our energy security,” the NDP premier told a crowd of about 150 people at the BMO Centre.

“We simply must diversify our markets and build our independence accordingly. It has never been more important for Canada to get a Canadian pipeline built to a Canadian coast.”

Alberta believes the doubling of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain line to Vancouver is crucial to opening new markets for the province’s oilsands crude in Asia and getting better prices for the resources. But the project is opposed by British Columbia’s NDP government, environmental groups and some B.C. municipalities and First Nations.

The federal Liberal government recently announced it would spend $4.5 billion to buy Kinder Morgan’s Canadian assets to ensure the pipeline expansion goes forward.

The Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs prompted dollar-for-dollar retaliatory action from Trudeau’s government.

In recent days, Trump has launched a Twitter tirade against Trudeau and Canadian trade policy around dairy in response to Trudeau restating Canada’s position at the end of the G7 summit.

Trump has threatened tariffs on the Canadian auto industry and he ratcheted up tensions further Tuesday as he said the comments of Trudeau were “going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada.”

In Ottawa on Tuesday, Trudeau took a similar line as Notley, saying in question period that a pipeline to open new markets is “something we can all agree on is probably a good idea, this week.”

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said the strained relationship with the Trump White House underscores the need for Trans Mountain.

“Well, yeah,” he told reporters. “I believe that Canadians believe that to have more than one customer for our main natural resource is good for Canada.”

NDP Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous said the trade tussle with Trump brings home to many the need for Canada and Alberta to turn to other markets, especially in Asia.

“We have been encouraging the federal government to engage with China on free-trade talks because

It has never been more important for Canada to get a Canadian pipeline built to a Canadian coast.

there is such significant potential in that market,” said Bilous.

“What this has done, quite frankly, Canadians in general are much more interested and acutely aware that we need to do more to expand our markets.”

The Trudeau government is continuing exploratory talks with China on a free-trade deal but little public progress has been made since the prime minister’s visit to the country last fall ended without an announcement of negotiations.

The Liberals are also expected to introduce legislation Thursday to ratify the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The bill is not expected to pass before the House of Commons rises for the summer, however.

Bilous said Canada can’t back down in the face of Trump’s threats.

“We want to see the prime minister and the federal government stand up to the president,” Bilous said at the Global Petroleum Show.

“They are a critical trading partner but, at the same time, we can’t be pushed around. It’s unfortunate a trade war starts to escalate like this ... our hope is that cooler heads will prevail.”

Bilous said that despite the fight, there are still strong trade opportunities with the United States. Alberta and Texas signed a memorandum of understanding on increased co-operation on economic, cultural and academic matters on Tuesday.

Rolando Pablos, the secretary of state in Texas’s Republican administration, brushed off questions over Trump’s feud with Canada but stressed the importance of trade.

“We are focused on the relationship between the state and provincial level. What’s happening at the federal level is beyond our control,” he told reporters following the signing.

“What I will tell you is that we have benefited tremendously from free trade as a state. Mexico is our No. 1 trading partner.”

Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw the United States from NAFTA and negotiate bilateral deals with Canada and Mexico.