Kenney never supported pipelines in Ottawa: Notley
NDP has discussed pipeline importance ‘coast to coast’
During all his years as an Ottawa politician, Jason Kenney did next to nothing to support pipelines for Alberta resources.
That was Premier Rachel Notley’s response Thursday to the United Conservative leader’s charge that she has failed to move the Trans Mountain project forward.
In all his years in the House of Commons, Notley said, Kenney is recorded as using the word “pipeline” just three times. And he told MPs the projects were “not a national priority.”
In contrast, she told a Lethbridge audience, Notley and her government have crossed the country, letting Canadians know how much they impact the national economy.
“We have gone coast to coast to coast, talking about their importance.”
As a result, 70 per cent of Canadians now understand the need, she said. And with the Kinder Morgan group looking at abandoning the TransMountain expansion, Notley’s government successfully pushed the federal government to take it over.
Today, “We are close to getting that pipeline built.”
Responding to questions, Notley endorsed her party’s steps to spell out Kenney’s long record of opposition to LGBTQ equality. During the AIDS crisis, she said, he is recorded on video boasting about his efforts to legally prevent gay men from visiting a dying partner in hospital. “He bragged about it.” More recently, the record shows Kenney voted against penalties for anyone “encouraging the genocide of people on the basis of their sexual orientation,” and he disallowed any mention of laws protecting LGBTQ Canadians in newcomers’ study materials, while Harper’s immigration minister.
Since returning to Alberta, Kenney has vowed to repeal the province’s laws protecting members of GSA groups in high schools.
“That is why we released the documentary.”
As to Kenney’s condemnation of a carbon tax, Notley told a questioner the decision to take that approach to climate change — instead of “cap-and-trade” or other measures — came after extensive consultation with the energy industry, environmentalists and other Alberta groups following the last election.
But during the 2015 campaign, she said, New Democrats promised a response to the critical challenge — along with other Canadians.
“We were very clear that was a priority for us in the last election.”
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