On the campaign trail

O’TOOLE WANTS TO REVIVE NORTHERN GATEWAY PIPELINE

KING CITY, ONT. — Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said Monday he supports building the cancelled Northern Gateway oil pipeline largely because it would provide Indigenous communities in favour of the project with economic opportunities.

Pipelines and climate change have predictably emerged as issues on the campaign trail ahead of the Sept. 20 election, with O'Toole trying to convince voters who are skeptical of the Conservatives' environmental record that under him, the party takes the issue seriously.

O'Toole touted the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and dead Northern Gateway pipeline as priority projects if he forms government during a Sunday evening interview on RadioCanada.

While he honed in on First Nations who inked agreements to get 33 per cent ownership in the latter Enbridge pipeline — which proposed carrying oil from Alberta's oilsands to British Columbia's coast — he didn't explain how he would get the project built, given the fierce opposition it faced from those worried about potential environmental harms.

Eight First Nations, four environmental groups and one labour union challenged the project in the Federal Court of Appeal, which overturned Ottawa's approval of the pipeline in 2016 due to lack of Indigenous consultation.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau permanently shelved the project later that year.

TRUDEAU PROMISES HELP FOR LAKES, RIVERS

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau pledged Monday to spend $1 billion over a decade to protect and restore Canada's big lakes and river systems, as he again sought to paint a stark contrast between his party's environmental record and that of the Conservatives.

A re-elected Liberal government would also build on its budget commitments by fully funding the creation of a new Canada Water Agency to co-ordinate freshwater initiatives, with a launch set for next year, Trudeau said.

The 2021 budget allocated $17.4 million over two years to begin work in preparation of the agency's launch and in establishing the scope of its mandate.

Trudeau made the announcement in Granby, Que., a day after unveiling his party's first major climate change promise. Trudeau said Sunday the Liberals will set out regulated five-year targets for emissions from oil and gas production to get them to net-zero emissions by 2050, but also create a $2 billion fund to create jobs in oil and gas-reliant communities in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador.

NDP TO CRACK DOWN ON ‘ULTRARICH’ TAX DODGERS

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is recommitting to a crackdown on "ultrarich" tax dodgers.

Singh said he would zero in on tax evasion and close loopholes that benefit billionaires.

“We believe that the ultrarich should pay their fair share so we can invest in people,” Singh said. “(Liberal Leader) Justin Trudeau and Conservatives before him have let the super rich have a free ride. We want to put an end to that.”

The New Democrats’ plan to halt what he called the “free ride for the wealthy” ranges from tougher enforcement at the Canada Revenue Agency to enhancing corporate tax transparency and capping stock option gains that are taxed at a lower rate.