ALBERTA’S SIGNATURE MOVE.

Alberta won’t sign statement over pipeline

YELLOW KNIFE• Alberta has refused to endorse the official statement stemming from the western premiers meeting in Yellowknife because it didn’t include support for the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The final communique deals with issues such as pharmacare and legalization of marijuana.

Alberta deputy premier Sarah Hoffman said without the wealth that would flow from the expansion of the pipeline, all discussions on such issues are moot.

“All of this costs money and we have one way to ensure we have that money and those resources, and that is for us to move forward with this project in the national interest. That’s what I came here to do,” said Hoffman, who was attending the meeting Wednesday in place of Premier Rachel Notley

“Unfortunately we didn’t get consensus on Trans Mountain today.”

Alberta sees the federally approved pipeline as key to unlocking lucrative overseas markets.

WE DID MAKE GREAT PROGRESS ON A RANGE OF OTHER ISSUES.

B.C. Premier John Horgan’s minority government is fighting the expansion in court. The province is worried about the threat of a major spill and the capacity to clean it up.

He said his position remains the same after the meeting.

“Certainly Alberta made their case as they always do in a strong and passionate way, and I laid out my concerns about risk and the court cases that we are currently enjoined in,” he said. “Beyond that, we did make great progress on a range of other issues important to British Columbians and western Canadians.”

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister didn’t express his direct support for the pipeline, but said free trade between the provinces is important.

“We’ve got to get some of these 150yearold issues dealt with and sooner rather than later,” he said. “We are taking money off the kitchen tables of Canadians every single day because we are not working effectively together as premiers.”

Notley, who skipped the conference over the dispute, has argued that the lack of a pipeline is taking $40 million a day out of the Canadian economy.