MORNEAU TALKS PIPELINE STAKE

Ownership seen as interim step

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau says Ottawa is here for a good time, not a long time, when it comes to ownership of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

But Premier Rachel Notley says that if Alberta ends up investing in the project, the province may be in no hurry to unload its ownership stake.

Speaking to a Calgary Chamber of Commerce luncheon a day after the Liberal government announced it would spend $4.5 billion to buy Kinder Morgan’s Canadian assets to ensure the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, Morneau insisted the government wants to return the project to the private sector as soon as possible.

“We are here for what we hope to be a relatively short time,” he said.

Kinder Morgan had set a May 31 deadline for the political uncertainty around the pipeline to be resolved or it was prepared to walk away from the project. Morneau said buying Kinder Morgan

Canada’s assets was not the preferred option initially, but ended up being the most suitable solution given current “exceptional” circumstances.

The Kinder Morgan deal sees Alberta’s NDP government prepared to chip in up to $2 billion to cover costs that stem from “unforeseen circumstances,” with any provincial dollars translating into equity in the project once it is complete.

At an event with unionized workers celebrating the pipeline moving forward, Notley said that if the province ends up in an ownership position, it will decide at the appropriate time whether it makes more sense to sell or to hang on and reap potential dividends.

She suggested Alberta could potentially earn $2 billion back in a year-and-a-half from a bump in incremental revenue stemming from the pipeline being in operation.

“We are confident that when this project gets built, it will be a very healthy profit-making venture,” said Notley. “The risk is low, the payoff is huge.”

Calgary Nose Hill Conservative MP Michelle Rempel, who attended Morneau’s speech, said it was “heavy on rhetoric, light on details.”

“No further details on the cost of construction, how the federal government is going to enforce jurisdiction over the B.C. government ... no details on how they’re going to overcome B.C. court challenges, no details on enforcing the rule of law when it comes to protests,” she said.