Polls show majority of B.C. residents now for pipeline

The issue has now escalated to the point where Alberta has introduced legislation of its own to retaliate and send gasoline prices higher in Vancouver.

Alberta Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd threatened Wednesday to use her government’s soon-to-bepassed law to throttle back oil shipments to B.C.

“They continue to try to frustrate investors and erode investor confidence and we are prepared to pull the rug out from under them,” McCuaig-Boyd said of B.C.’s plan to file the reference case quickly.

“It’s a federally approved project and yet they continue to throw legal challenges all the time and enough is enough. That is why we’ve introduced Bill 12 and we’re prepared to pass it and use it,” she said.

Saskatchewan’s government has vowed to match Alberta’s actions in retaliating against B.C. as it supports the pipeline’s construction.

“The B.C. NDP government has only gotten more obstructionist since the meeting with the Prime Minister on Sunday,” Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a Twitter post Tuesday. He has said a bill is coming “within days” to cut off oil shipments to B.C.

The pipeline fight between the three Western premiers comes as a new poll shows that in metro Vancouver and on Vancouver Island — the two areas most opposed to the pipeline expansion — a majority of respondents are now in favour of the project.

The poll by Angus Reid Institute, conducted this week among 2,125 Canadian adults, found that 55 per cent of respondents said they support the project, up from 49 per cent in February. Still, 26 per cent say they oppose the pipeline and 20 per cent weren’t sure.

The Canada-wide responses are similar to responses within British Columbia, where 54 per cent of respondents said they support the project, including in Vancouver and Victoria, where the majority of the opposition to the pipeline is centred.

In metro Vancouver, 50 per cent of respondents said they support the project, compared with 39 per cent who were opposed and 11 A sign warning of a petroleum pipeline where work is being conducted on the Trans Mountain expansion. per cent who said they didn’t know.

Support was higher in Victoria, where 54 per cent said they supported the project and 43 per cent said opposed it and three per cent weren’t sure. In other parts of B.C., support for the pipeline jumped to 60 per cent in favour, 32 per cent opposed and eight per cent unsure.

Meanwhile, the federal Liberal government hasn’t yet “landed” on its promised legislative option to push the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion forward, says Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr.

Ottawa is “actively pursuing” legislation that will reassert Canada’s constitutional authority to build and expand pipelines, the prime minister promised Sunday after an emergency meeting with the feuding premiers of B.C. and Alberta. However, it hasn’t yet figured out what it will look like.

“We’re looking at legislative options,” Carr said Wednesday on his way into the daily question period. “We haven’t landed on one yet.”

Government officials say it’s not even yet clear which department will take the lead on the bill — Natural Resources, Finance or Justice. companies once a year.

The Caisse’s investment in Kinder Canada came before it announced plans to scale back its holdings in carbon-intensive industries in favour of renewable energy, Chagnon said. That means Caisse bought in between Kinder Morgan Canada’s initial public offering last May and the pension fund manager’s shift in October.

Caisse aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 25 per cent per dollar invested by 2025, Chief Executive Officer Michael Sabia said at the time.

Already among the world’s largest renewable energy investors, its wants to increase low-carbon investments strategic