B.C.’s pipeline move just obstructionist

Just as a spat with one next-door province fizzles, another considerably more serious dispute flares up on Alberta’s other boundary.

While the recent tit-for-tat with Saskatchewan over licence plates and the price of beer bordered on the silly, the latest salvo fired at Alberta by British Columbia’s government is no laughing matter.

B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman announced Tuesday his government is introducing additional regulatory measures to protect the province from potential oil spills. The province is threatening to restrict increases in oilsands crude shipments from Alberta by pipeline or rail while an advisory panel studies whether diluted bitumen can be effectively cleaned up in water.

B.C. Premier John Horgan, who took power last spring with backing from the province’s Green Party, has vowed to use every tool at his disposal to block Kinder Morgan’s pending $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion from Alberta. This announcement is the political monkey wrench his government has come up with.

Renewed tension with B.C. will exacerbate already strained relations between the two provinces and could trigger the start of a long interprovincial trade war.

So serious are the potential ramifications, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley angrily accused B.C. of trying to circumvent the law and rewrite Canada’s Constitution. She could also have mentioned the move will likely be considered to breach the spirit of the New West Partnership trade deal.

On Wednesday, Notley convened an emergency cabinet meeting to chart next steps, a signal Alberta may retaliate with its own legal and trade actions that may include interprovincial electricity trade.

Notley’s anger is understandable given what’s at stake and the sheer audacity of B.C.’s delaying tactic. Stalled pipelines take a huge monetary toll on Alberta, and the national economy. B.C.’s pursuit of more study comes off as disingenuous given the reams of review that Trans Mountain has already undergone, resulting in an environmental certificate by the previous B.C. government and approval from both the National Energy Board and federal cabinet.

Speaking of the federal government, it’s time for Canada’s leader to act against B.C.’s latest obstruction for a project of national importance.