Scheer, Moe sing same tune on pipeline purchase

Opinions held by Conservative Party of Canada Leader Andrew Scheer are largely on the same page as Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s when it comes to the federal government’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline project from Kinder Morgan for $4.5 billion.

Scheer, who is also the MP for Regina- Qu’Appelle, continued to lash out against the federal government on Wednesday, saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is “making taxpayers bail him out for his own failures” and that the Liberals in Ottawa have done “literally nothing ” for almost a full year to get Trans Mountain built.

The federal government’s decision this week to purchase the pipeline came after Kinder Morgan set a deadline of May 31 for political interferences to be dealt with. Since last summer, the B.C. government, led by Premier John Horgan, has objected to the pipeline being built.

Horgan has gone to court to get a judge to weigh in on whether B.C.’s jurisdiction for the environment would allow him to regulate what flows through the pipeline.

The uncertainty, paired with opposition from environmental groups and some Indigenous communities in B.C., prompted Kinder Morgan to halt investment until the federal government could inject some certainty into the project.

On Wednesday, Scheer contended “nothing has changed” as a result of the ownership change.

“If the Liberal government were so sure about federal jurisdiction, why not just provide that assurance to Kinder Morgan?” he said.

That sentiment was similar to what Moe said Tuesday in response to the federal government buying the pipeline.

“What has changed? We have a different proponent on the pipeline,” said Moe. “As far as the regulatory environment with respect to ensuring this pipeline is built, what has changed?”

The two shared views on the impact they perceive the federal government’s decision will have on private investment as well.

“We had a proponent that had the financial backing to build this piece of infrastructure,” Moe said. Now, he added, “we have a federal government that is paying that company, essentially, to leave the nation.”

Scheer says the Trudeau government would have the public believe buying the pipeline was its only option, but that in reality Kinder Morgan was “willing to pay” for it and “wasn’t looking for money”, just a clear path to construction.

Regina-Wascana MP and federal Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale said the federal government’s purchase and construction of the pipeline “will assist the economy of all of Western Canada and indeed all of Canada.”

“Why this was necessary is because commercial operations like Kinder Morgan were obviously not prepared to proceed with the project with the cloud of political uncertainty hanging over it, which was caused by British Columbia,” he said, later noting the federal government “does not suffer the same impediment” and won’t be intimidated or deterred by B.C.

He added the federal government will sell Trans Mountain to a private company at the “appropriate time” and already there is “lots of interest expressed by major investors who see this as the prime opportunity that we see it as.”