Pipeline plan divides House, country

Trudeau’s move to buy a pipeline turns up heat at the start of a long summer

The mercury, and tempers, were rising in the House of Commons Wednesday, as politicians sparred over the Liberal government’s controversial nationalization of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

There is a sense that this is serious business and that the passion and exasperation in Parliament will be nothing compared to the rage on the ground in British Columbia, in what promises to be a long, hot summer.

When the $4.5-billion purchase was unveiled at a news conference on Tuesday, Jim Carr, the natural resources minister, resorted to the old Liberal standby of blaming the Harper government for the sorry pass things had come to.

“The previous government spent 10 years pitting the environment and the economy against each other. They pitted us against each other. It polarized us. That is not who we are,” he said.

But it’s very much who we are.

If Carr is suggesting that the country is no longer polarized — and has not become more so as a result of this policy decision — he needs to get out more.

The mantra of the economy and the environment going hand-in-hand has become such a crutch for Justin Trudeau that if you’d picked that boiler plate phrase in a game of political drinking bingo, you’d have been befuddled by the end of the opening round of question period.

Once upon a time, the idea of a dual-pronged policy of a pipeline and carbon pricing seemed like a clear political winner: polls showed a majority in every region of the country supported (or at least accepted) the development in tandem of a floor price on carbon and a new pipeline.

But however beautiful the strategy, real life is much more messy. The reaction to the Trans Mountain announcement suggests that consensus is in danger of unravelling.

The prime minister has been cornered by his own overzealous regulatory changes — enthusiasm that shut down the Northern Gateway and Energy East options.

The strategy doubtless worked on the principle they would not be needed because the government would support Trans Mountain, which had regulatory approval and the support of the B.C. government. Then sand was thrown in the gears when John Horgan was elected NDP premier of B.C.

Trudeau has been animated about the need to protect Canadian values, but there is no Canadian value more important than the rule of law, the foundation of all the other values in society.

That value will now be challenged, not least by the leader of the third party in Parliament. Jagmeet Singh said he supports the rule of law and does not condone violence. “But it is important to understand that people protest when they are frustrated. I understand where that comes from,” he said.

Horgan said he encouraged pipeline opponents to make their voices heard but only “within the rule of law.”

Those words will probably fall on deaf ears.

Bill McKibben, the American environmentalist, writing in the Guardian, said Trans Mountain is shaping up to be another Standing Rock, the protest against a pipeline in North Dakota that saw armed soldiers and police in riot gear clear an encampment. “I’m guessing that making this petrocolonialism officially statesponsored will only harden people’s resolution,” he said. “The cutest, progressivest, boy-bandiest leader in the world is going fully in the tank for the oil industry.”

The pipeline news will stain Trudeau’s reputation in many Indigenous communities that have been supportive of the Liberals to this point.

“This is the moment in history where Justin Trudeau has revealed that he never cared about Indigenous rights or reconciliation,” said Will George, a member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in North Vancouver.

That view is not universal among Indigenous people. Trudeau quoted B.C. Chief Ernie Crey, who welcomed the news and said the livelihoods of the Cheam band people depend on it succeeding.

But that’s the point. A government elected on promises of positive politics and inclusiveness has taken decisions that have increased the polarization in this country.

People in New Brunswick are gob-smacked that the federal government has bought a pipeline, after engineering the demise of Energy East. Don Darling, the Saint John mayor, said Ottawa claims Trans Mountain is in the national interest because it will create jobs. “Those are the exact arguments we made for Energy East, but we couldn’t get any traction,” he said.

At one point in question period Wednesday, Trudeau chided the Conservatives for talking about Energy East, which was “old news.” Lisa Raitt, the Conservative deputy leader, shot back that this would be news to the Liberal MP for Saint John, Wayne Long, who was quoted in that morning’s paper saying he would be lobbying the prime minister to reopen the Energy East file.

The business community should have been supportive of Ottawa’s Trans Mountain intervention, but the confusion over enforcing regulatory approvals has resulted in a widespread negative sentiment.

“We are left questioning why any company would pursue large capital investment in Canada,” said a note to clients by GMP Securities analysts.

For many, the grievance is less the terms of the deal. As was noted Tuesday, if the pipeline is built, it could be sold at a profit by the government. People who watched Trudeau orchestrate the purchase have no doubts about his resolve. “This was not the prime minister who crashed the wedding on a beach in Tofino. This was the boxing match version of Justin — stubborn and immovable,” said one person.

The sun will be beating down on the Trans Mountain terminal in Burnaby this summer, but there will be few signs of sunny ways.