PIPELINE POLITICS

Provincial government passes motion to support Northern Gateway one day before Clark, Redford arrive

REGINA — The Sask. Party government passed a motion backing construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline project.

“The government of Saskatchewan has been supportive of an allof-the-above approach to pipelines, even though some of the pipelines will not have Saskatchewan oil in them,” Premier Brad Wall told reporters Wednesday.

“If we get Canadian oil to tidewater like these pipelines will do, it will increase the value at which we can sell.”

The NDP Opposition did not support the motion. Wall stressed the government was “careful” to use wording from Opposition correspondence about the provincial NDP’s support for a different pipeline, Keystone XL.

“We think they might be notionally opposed to Gateway and it’s better if there’s consensus in the Legislature and so we’ve tried to take right from their letter and right from their position on Keystone to see if we can’t build consensus for Gateway,” the premier said.

The Northern Gateway pipeline — which would run from Alberta to B.C. — has been controversial; the province of B.C. has demanded conditions be met before it offers support. The issue has been divisive for B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Alison Redford — both of whom will be in Regina Thursday for a meeting of New West Partnership (NWP) premiers.

Wall said he doesn’t think raising the subject before the visit is a concern, noting his position is known.

“This is consistent and it’s not going to impact NWP because Gateway’s not going to be on the schedule,” Wall said, adding he expects the other two premiers will be ready to answer media questions about the pipeline and the motion.

“We’ve seen, I think, improvement in terms of the overall relationship, the dialogue now between officials in those two provinces,” he said.

Broten told reporters he doesn’t think Northern Gateway, which is awaiting approval from the federal government, is a “wise” project.

“There are some big concerns,” Broten said, pointing to mountain geography, shipping routes, First Nations and oil spills as potentially problematic.

“What we’re hearing from B.C. is that they’ve got big concerns and aren’t supportive, and I think that’s an important distinction as well,” he added.

Broten said the government’s priorities are “misplaced.”

“I think this is more about a focus of a house agenda here, where the premier is keen to try to sow division or something like that,” he said.