Pipeline talks end without resolution
Mega-project threatened by Indigenous, political, environmental opposition
OTTAWA— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley declared Sunday they would spend taxpayer dollars and flex their respective legislative muscle to ensure the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline is built over the objections of British Columbia.
Citing waning investor confidence in Canada’s ability to get big projects “done,” Trudeau told a nationally televised news conference the pipeline is in Canada’s “vital, strategic interest.” He has instructed Finance Minister Bill Morneau to negotiate with Kinder Morgan — the project’s backer — to provide federal financial assurances to guarantee that it goes ahead, but refused to provide details about how Ottawa would mitigate any costs or risk to Canadian taxpayers.
“It will be built … we are absolutely focused that we make this construction season,” Trudeau said, pledging to meet a May 31 deadline set by the company and predicting the project would be completed on time by 2020.
But the megaproject remains threatened by stiff environmental, Indigenous and political opposition in B.C.
B.C. Premier John Horgan emerged from a high-stakes Sunday meeting with Trudeau and Notley on Parliament Hill unbowed. He vowed to proceed with a B.C. court reference in the coming days to challenge Ottawa’s claim to sole jurisdiction over the environment. While interprovincial pipelines are clearly federal jurisdiction, the environment is not expressly listed as a sole responsibility of either the federal or the provincial government in the constitution, and has been a shared responsibility. Horgan wants a ruling from the court that would allow his minority NDP government to block Kinder Morgan from increasing flows of heavy crude, in the name of protecting B.C.’s coastal waters.
“Although we agreed today on the importance of protecting our coast, he (Trudeau) and I will not be in power forever and that’s why the jurisdictional question is so critically important,” Horgan said.
Equally unmoved, Notley said she would introduce legislation this week to allow her province to scale back its oil and gas exports to British Columbia, saying it will “give Alberta the authority to strategically deploy the export of its resources in a way that gets the best return for Albertans and maximizes the prices that we can receive.”
So the Sunday summit in the nation’s capital failed to break a political standoff that has put the $7.4-billion project in limbo.
Moreover, it is far from clear that Trudeau and Notley’s plan will be enough. Despite secret talks between the federal and Alberta governments and Kinder Morgan that have taken place over the past few days in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Houston about a financial plan to underwrite the “extraordinary political risk” which the company claims is a threat to the project, the company was noncommittal.
Kinder Morgan Canada Limited, in a statement to the Star, said it did not intend to comment “until we’ve reached a sufficiently definitive agreement on or before May 31 that satisfies our objectives.”
Those objectives remain the same, according to the company, “to obtain certainty with respect to the ability to construct through B.C. and for the protection of our shareholders in order to build the Trans Mountain Expansion Project.”
In addition to providing financial assurances to the company, Trudeau said he would aim to provide clarity by introducing legislation to assert federal jurisdiction. That could involve taking over some permitting and regulatory approvals. The pipeline’s expansion involves twinning an existing AlbertaB.C. pipeline, laying about 980 kilometres of new pipes, and expanding two marine terminals in Burnaby.
Even if Ottawa’s and Alberta’s actions reassure the company, none of it is likely to dampen the opposition of some B.C. residents and a number of Indigenous communities.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, was blunt. “Here in British Columbia the answer is still no,” he said to CBC News. He said regardless of Trudeau’s rhetoric, the meeting “did not produce any forward progress.”
The three leaders had huddled for almost two hours with Morneau and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and a small knot of senior political staff and public servants in the prime minister’s Centre Block. Notley later told the Star the mood was “strained” at the outset, but improved as the talks went on.
However, it ended with B.C. further isolated, and Notley was scathing in characterizing B.C.’s actions.
“I don’t believe it is in the best interests of the country to engage in esoteric jurisdictional debates for the purposes of harassing a project to death.”
The prime minister defended the government’s determination in the face of opposition, saying the project had been subject to the “most extensive” consultation with Indigenous communities ever done.
Trudeau echoed Notley’s frustration with the B.C. government for its opposition to the project. Asked if he views it as a constitutional crisis, with Quebec weighing in on B.C.’s side, Trudeau said B.C.’s efforts to block the project “have obviously inflamed passions and political rhetoric.” Horgan wants to ensure enough federal and provincial resources are available to address “gaps” such as the timeliness of responses to potential future oil spills. He said a recent diesel spill in B.C. took a month to clean up. “That’s a federal responsibility. I don’t think we can wait a month if there was a diluted bitumen spill.”
Notley scoffed, saying that diesel spill involved commercial vessels and not doublehulled oil tankers, as are required to carry bitumen. Trudeau said his government has sought clarification repeatedly from B.C. about what gaps it sees, but “unfortunately over the course of almost a year they have not specifically put forward proposals on how they would like to see us improve the oceans protection plan. It’s something we very much are open to doing.”