Trudeau upping ante on Trans Mountain pipeline
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has instructed his finance minister to enter negotiations with Kinder Morgan to “remove the uncertainty” hanging over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Trudeau also says federal legislation is coming that will “reassert and reinforce” the fact that the federal government is well within its jurisdiction to approve the $7.4 billion project and ensure it goes ahead.
Finally, he says he’s willing to expand and improve upon his government’s $1.5 billion oceans protection plan in an effort to ensure the most stringent protections are available to reassure British Columbia its coasts are not at risk.
He’s offering few details, however, saying the negotiations will not take place in public. Despite that, it is the most concrete Trudeau has been yet about how his government intends to solve the impasse that led Kinder Morgan to suspend all nonessential spending on the expansion project pending reassurance from Ottawa the pipeline will be able to go forward.
“Ideally, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now,” Trudeau told a news conference Sunday after a closely watched, lastminute meeting with B.C. Premier John Horgan, who is blocking the project, and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who desperately wants to see it go ahead.
Trudeau would not go as far as others to call the pipeline impasse a “constitutional crisis” but laid all the blame for the situation at Horgan’s feet. The pipeline was approved in 2016 with the support of the former B.C. Liberal government of Christy Clark. Horgan defeated Clark in an election last year.
“I don’t think it’s any surprise to anyone that I don’t think we would be in this situation if the British Columbia government hadn’t continued to emphasize its opposition to the project,” Trudeau said. “That is why we are at this point right now.”
Although both Horgan and Notley came out of the meeting saying it was collegial and cooperative, neither is coming out of their entrenchments. Horgan said the promised court reference question to verify what jurisdiction, if any, B.C. has over the pipeline and its contents, is coming “within days.”
He said he’d hoped to have it done earlier but these questions are complicated and take time to put together right.
Notley said legislation she promised that will allow it to alter flows of oil through the existing Trans Mountain pipeline into B.C. is going to be introduced in the Alberta legislature this week. Analysts suggest that could hike gas prices in the Lower Mainland over $2 per litre and would have an immediate, economy-wide impact on the province.
Trudeau said while his government is committed to working with both premiers to find a solution, “we must recognize that they remain at an impasse which only the government of Canada has the capacity and the authority to resolve.”
The legislation is expected to reassert, in addition to the Constitution, Ottawa’s authority over pipelines. This is a bid to try and take the wind out the sails of Horgan’s court challenge.
Financially the government has options that include assuming some of the investor’s risk or finding a way to guarantee investor returns on schedule. Trudeau said he is “not ready” to say Canada is buying the pipeline outright or even putting in an equity stake. He said whatever financial arrangement is reached will include protections for taxpayers.
“We engaged in financial discussions with the pipeline owner, Kinder Morgan,” he said. “This is a series of discussions that are happening in Calgary, Toronto, Houston and New York. They won’t happen in public. As soon as we have something to announce I promise you we will let you know.”
Horgan said he’d received assurances from Trudeau that he would not “punish” British Columbians over their government’s objections, meaning Ottawa isn’t going to be withholding federal funds from B.C. in an effort to get the Horgan government on side.
Trudeau said he is also willing to discuss with Horgan additional environmental protections that could give B.C. confidence over its shorelines and marine environments, but accused Horgan of refusing to tell him for nearly a year what gaps Horgan feels exist in the existing or promised protections under the Oceans Protections Plan.