Premier opposes Ottawa’s stance

Refusal to appeal ruling blocks Trans Mountain options: Notley

EDMONTON Premier Rachel Notley says she doesn’t agree with Ottawa’s decision to not appeal a court ruling that stalled the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, but Alberta needs to let the federal process play out.

“We understand that pursuing an appeal is a longer-term path towards a solution,” she said at a Wednesday news conference, adding the federal government’s plan to follow the court’s directives is likely the more effective path. “Nonetheless until that path succeeds, as far as I’m concerned, their job is to keep all options open.”

Her comments followed the news that Ottawa tapped former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci to oversee a new round of consultations with Indigenous communities, following the Federal Court of Appeal decision in August.

That decision quashed the approval given to the Trans Mountain expansion project by the National Energy Board and cabinet in 2016, citing lack of consultation with Indigenous communities and a failure to properly consider marine shipping in the environmental review.

Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi said Wednesday the government doesn’t intend to start the phase-three Indigenous consultations from the beginning, but will use them to address the weaknesses that led to the ruling.

The court said that while the government did spend several months in 2016 meeting with Indigenous communities concerned about the pipeline, those consultations were largely note-taking exercises and the government didn’t address the concerns that were raised.

Notley said it’s not up to Alberta to make “arbitrary deadlines” for when the Indigenous consultations should be completed.

“A tremendous amount of work has already been done on that matter, and then it probably can reasonably be concluded in a fairly timely way,” she told reporters. “The process itself is not one that is going to be held to a timeline if it is authentic and meaningful.”

Sohi said Ottawa won’t set a deadline.

“We are not going to put a timeline on these consultations because we feel that it is our duty to faithfully engage with the Indigenous communities to get this right,” he said.

Ottawa did however spell out a 22-week deadline for the NEB to complete its environmental review, this time taking into account the impact of additional oil tanker traffic off the coast of British Columbia due to an expanded Trans Mountain pipeline.

That announcement last month gives the NEB until February to review the risk of oil spills and the impact on marine life when the number of oil tankers in the Burrard Inlet rises to 35 a month from about five.

“I’d like to see the construction resume next year at some point,” Notley said Wednesday. “We are going to be engaging ourselves in the scoping process with the NEB.”

She said Alberta will take action if federal deadlines slip.

“At this point we have to let this process play out.”

Ottawa made a $4.5-billion investment to purchase the existing Trans Mountain pipeline.

That sale was approved by Kinder Morgan shareholders shortly after the court ruling, which spurred Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. to halt construction-related activities to twin the existing pipeline from Strathcona County to Burnaby, B.C.

The expansion is pegged at an additional $7.4 billion.

United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney said Notley has failed to follow through on her promise to “hold Justin Trudeau’s feet to the fire,” including insisting on a court appeal and pushing for federal legislation.

“Neither of those things has happened,” he told reporters in Calgary. “They’ve spiked the football so much on this pipeline, there is nothing left to spike.”

Notley also said Alberta supports the LNG Canada project in northern B.C. that was given shareholder approval on Tuesday.

But the approval of the massive liquefied national gas project suggests Alberta energy projects are held to a different standard, she said.

“It’s going to mean jobs for engineers, jobs for contractors, it’s going to ultimately mean more opportunities for drillers,” she said.

“Albertans can be forgiven for being extremely frustrated with the way the federation is working right now because there is a high level of jaw-dropping hypocrisy that is being demonstrated through that process.”

The five partners have agreed to the $40-billion joint venture that includes a gas liquefaction plant in Kitimat on B.C.’s coast and a 670-kilometre pipeline delivering natural gas from the northeast corner of the province.