GRIMACES & GRINS FROM THE WEST.

For one Western premier, the blockbuster announcement on Tuesday that the federal government is prepared to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline was cause for a triumphant victory lap.

For another, it was a grim development that prompted a solemn promise to keep up the fight.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, whose political survival is staked to ensuring the pipeline gets built, held a news conference in the Edmonton sunshine on Tuesday morning, where she was surrounded by applauding cabinet ministers.

“We said we would get the pipeline built, and we are getting it built,” Notley said, high-fiving her ministers.

She said Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s announcement of the deal means the project has more certainty than ever before, and slammed B.C. for taking “a run at the authority of the federal government and the interest of all Canadians.”

“There is work yet to be done, but Alberta, this is a major step forward for each and every one of us,” she said. “We will not stop until the job is done. And in the meantime, to all Albertans: pick up those tools, folks, we have a pipeline to build.”

An hour later, B.C. Premier John Horgan, alone inside the legislature’s press theatre in Victoria, struck a sombre tone.

“I’m concerned that there could be catastrophic consequences of a diluted bitumen spill in British Columbia, regardless of the owner of pipeline,” he said.

Horgan — whose political survival depends on opposing the pipeline, thanks to his minority government’s dependence on B.C. Green Party support — said nothing substantially changes for him if Ottawa owns the pipeline, and his government will still explore all its options through the courts.

But he said it does mean the federal government is “totally accountable” for the entire pipeline expansion.

Horgan was asked whether he feels responsible for the fact $4.5 billion of federal tax dollars may have to be used to buy the pipeline, plus construction costs that could top $7 billion or more.

“I made no such undertaking of tax dollars, quite the contrary,” he said. “The accountability for those decisions should rest with the people who made them, and that’s the federal government and, by inference, the government of Alberta.”

Alberta’s support includes its own financial backstop, with up to $2 billion in “emergency” assistance.

Jason Kenney, leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party, said he reluctantly supports the emergency fund — but laid the blame for the situation at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s feet.

“Today sends a message that investor confidence has been fundamentally shaken in Canada,” Kenney said.

“The fact that Kinder Morgan has pulled out is nothing to celebrate. The fact that we’ve been left with one potential coastal pipeline is no cause for a victory lap.”

Morneau told reporters the government is not looking to be a long-term owner of the pipeline, and hopes to see a private operator buy it.

That raises the prospect of an ownership stake for the dozens of Indigenous groups who have already signed agreements on the project.

Chief Ernie Crey of B.C.'s Cheam First Nation has spoken strongly in support of Trans Mountain. He told CBC his council has discussed the possibility of partnering with investors. “In principle, we would be willing to invest.”

But it also means heightened protests from other Indigenous groups.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said he was “shocked and appalled.”

“No means no — the project does not have the consent it requires, and we will not stand down no matter who buys this ill-fated and exorbitantly priced pipeline,” he said. “When the CEO says ‘it’s a great day’ after selling a project, the buyer should worry.”