Proposed Trans Mountain deal brings mixed local reaction
Purchase lauded by Alberta Chamber, Petroleum Producers, harshly criticized by regional conservative elected officials
Some energy and business lobby groups joined Alberta’s premier in strong support of Ottawa’s decision to buy the Kinder Morgan pipeline to advance a controversial expansion project.
Others worried about a precedent it sets and effects on business confidence.
Regional politicians called it an indictment of the Liberal government’s handling of the issue, and question how it would move construction forward.
The only sure thing it seems, is opinions are mixed.
“It’s a complete disaster,” said Glen Motz, MP for Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner, who says a mishandling of the project thus far left them with few options.
“I see continued failure on this file in the future. It’s no closer to being built today than it was yesterday ... and this has been a year in the making.”
Federal cabinet approved buying the company’s existing Canadian assets as well as the expansion project that the company said would need to proceed by Thursday, or be halted.
The Alberta Chambers of Commerce and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers called the measure necessary considering continued opposition by B.C. Indigenous and environmental groups, and legal challenges by the provincial government in Victoria.
That support was tempered however, with calls for government to divest the project as soon as possible and keep costs in check.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation called it a “colossal failure” that placed “a massive, unnecessary financial burden on Canadian taxpayers.”
Greenpeace organizer and Medicine Hat native Mike Hudema said on social media, the decision meant the Liberals were “not only helping to destroy the planet but also risking billions of public money on the fallout.”
In Edmonton, Premier Rachel Notley said protesters would no longer be able to intimidate investors of the project, which she called necessary and profitable.
“Albertans, get your tools, we have a pipeline to build,” she told a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday.
Ottawa would take possession of the assets this summer, though the company would proceed with expansion work “this week,” said Notley.
“There are some who hoped we’d fail for their own political motives,” she said, but the pipeline would strengthen the oil patch while the province also tackles climate change.
Alberta will offer up to $2 billion in financing if cost overruns arise, payable after the line is in operation and would result in an equity stake for Alberta.
Notley said financing might not be required, but would add more value for Alberta, which benefits from higher prices earned on world exports, and also perhaps a operating dividend.
“Sometimes on a big national project, the federal government has to be involved, and that doesn’t make Canada a bad place to investment,” said Notley. “Governments invest in highways and railways and power lines. These are things the private sector wants and needs.”
Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes, the United Conservatives finance critic, renewed criticism of Notley’s strategy to highlight environmental programs paid for by the carbon levy as an offset for petroleum development.
“I’m glad the Trans Mountain isn’t permanently cancelled,” said Barnes. “In the end it hasn’t moved one opponent (opinion) or the B.C. Government, and it forced the federal government and taxpayers to put up to $13 billion into the project.”
City Coun. Phil Turnbull, the chair of the city’s energy and utility committee, said he feels the benefits of the project are obvious and that the city’s energy interest would benefit generally as would the entire energy sector.
That said, he noted, he was generally skeptical of governments operating the private sector.
“It could be the best deal or the worst, we’ll have to see,” said Turnbull. “I think it’s a coin flip at this point.”