Pipeline horror show plays on different fronts
Alberta readied its “turn off the taps” bill, Ottawa says it’s hard at work putting together a pipeline-rescue posse and B.C. is continuing its passive-aggressive delaying tactics.
Tuesday marked a new low-water mark in B.C.’s relationship with the rest of the country, as the argument over the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion moved in several different directions, all of them bad.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s bill, grandiosely entitled the Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Act, completed passage through the legislature. The new law gives the NDP government authority over what goes into the existing pipeline. As soon as it’s enacted, a cabinet order to restrict the flow of refined products could send gas prices soaring in B.C. That’s not a theoretical sideeffect. It’s the express intent of the bill, its sole purpose.
And it passed unanimously, which in a fractured legislature dominated by two polarized parties says something about their conviction. Usually, it takes natural disasters to bring political enemies together. In Alberta, all it took to put Notley and Opposition Leader Jason Kenney on the same page was the B.C. NDP.
Passage coincided with federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s reassurance the federal Liberals are working furiously on a rescue package to get the pipeline built. With Kinder Morgan wavering, he confirmed the federal government is still aiming to step in and backstop any losses incurred through B.C.’s delaying tactics. Morneau also cuffed Premier John Horgan for acting outside the constitution, and thwarting job creation and prosperity.
Horgan responded by calling him a “Toronto-based finance minister,” which tells you everything you need to know about federal-provincial relations these days.
Environment Minister George Heyman joined in, saying Morneau is more interested in protecting foreign corporations than B.C.
Heyman continued the passive-aggressive stance that has infuriated the other jurisdictions. The B.C. NDP isn’t actively blocking the line (it has issued more than 200 minor permits for the project so far). But it’s gone to court to assert jurisdiction over rail and pipeline oil movements and team up with some anti-pipeline First Nations, which adds delays, cost and uncertainty.
For a government that opposes the pipeline but can’t do much about it, the stance is the best of both worlds.
Heyman can say: “We think it’s a bad project … not in B.C.’s interests.”
But he can also say he’s acting legally and understands that “it has federal approvals.” “We’re acting within the law.” Attorney General David Eby also joined the fray, urging Alberta to get a court ruling on whether its bill is legal, and threatening a lawsuit if Notley ever tries to use it.
He told his Alberta counterpart that a bill designed only to punish another province is manifestly unconstitutional, and if she didn’t get a ruling on it before acting, B.C. would sue Alberta.
Not only that, but B.C. could sue cabinet ministers directly. The bill gives them immunity, but Eby noted (ominously) “there are constitutional limits to the ability of a province to immunize those who deliberately inflict harm on Canadians in other provinces.”
After splashing that pail of gasoline around the bonfire, he offered a way to settle things down: B.C., Alberta and the feds could all go to the Supreme Court of Canada to settle the multi-faceted jurisdictional screaming match.
Sounds reasonable, except it’s just more of the delay strategy that’s enraging Alberta. Notley and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would sooner drive the pipeline route in a Smart car with Horgan than voluntarily walk into court with him.
So Alberta is poised to punish B.C. drivers directly. B.C., already in two courts over the project, is ready to sue that government and maybe its ministers. And Ottawa is ready to spend a fortune to effectively nationalize this horror show.
B.C. has had fights with Ottawa before. But it has never had so many concurrent battles with the federal government and other western provinces. B.C. has never been more isolated nationally than it is right now.
Even if the pipeline eventually proceeds, which looks likely, the argument has done lasting damage, and it isn’t even close to being over.