Kinder Morgan conundrum
Re: Horgan vs. Notley vs. Singh: It’s the NDP’s family feud; May 18
It was disheartening to learn that the Liberal government will fund the delay of the Kinder Morgan pipeline to facilitate the Supreme Court making the political decisions for them. While Trudeau didn’t say just that; that is what he meant.
Trudeau has already: outlawed the transport of oil via tankers on the west coast; cancelled the Northern Gateway pipeline; and, strangled the Canada East project with impossible regulations. Now, instead of asserting the federal government’s jurisdiction regarding Kinder Morgan, Trudeau has scurried behind a funding scheme that will effectively nationalize it and cost Canadians money, which Kinder Morgan does not want/need and which we cannot afford. The upshot of this is that it will do nothing to propel the construction of the pipeline; rather, it will encourage its delay.
Albertans already put more in of transfer payments into the federal coffers than anyone else.
We are now asked to absorb an additional billions of dollars in lost revenue (not to mention the heartache/hardship wrought by all the lost jobs) all the while waiting for multiple parties to bring their court applications. In short, Albertans will pay the lion’s share to actually delay the construction of the pipeline.
This issue is much larger than Alberta’s economy. It is about federalism itself and the role of the federal government viewed through our constitutional prism. Having ensured that this project met all the environmental and legal requirements; and, having declared that it is for the general advantage of Canada, it is incumbent on the Trudeau Government — at the risk of otherwise eviscerating our federalist structure — of facilitating its immediate construction … (“it’s the economy, stupid”).
If federalism is to survive, the government must take dramatic action to underscore that it alone has jurisdiction with respect to programs that are declared to be in the national interest. It can do this by passing legislation specifically designed to facilitate the pipeline’s construction (as it did in 1956).
However, for the legislation to be effective, it will require the courage to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Charter. One is left to wonder if our current “Emperor” actually has the “clothes” to do it.
Richard Hornung, Calgary