Trudeau commits to fast-tracking $700M in building money to struggling Alberta

The money from the Building Canada Fund was announced in late 2014 by the previous federal government but never made it to the province.

“Through our ministers there have been very engaged conversations, about what our projects should be and how we can get this money flowing faster”.

Notley said the government was reviewing the projects that had applied for funding and announcements were imminent.

“It’s very clear to me, based on everything I see in the public domain, the Prime Minister appreciates the seriousness of the situation”, said Asim Ghosh, president and CEO of integrated oil company Husky Energy Inc. “We really are talking a matter of months, weeks to months”.

Notley needs Trudeau to rebuild the trust in environmental regulations lost during the Stephen Harper years when pro-pipeline cheerleading and denigration of opponents resulted in one failure after another.

He must do so to deal with the immediate economic imperative in the oilpatch, but he must also ensure that he is dealing with a strengthened, not a wounded, Notley, because the two need each other.

Notley wants Trudeau to weigh in on the Energy East pipeline.

Notley says she also pushed Trudeau to make changes to Employment Insurance that will broaden access for laid-off energy workers.

Currently, an Edmonton worker must work 665 hours to qualify for EI and may receive up to 38 weeks of benefits, while a worker in high-unemployment regions in Atlantic Canada needs to work only 420 hours and can qualify for up to 45 weeks of benefits.

Mr. Trudeau said he is committed to rapid changes to EI that would benefit Albertans. “In the case of Alberta, that money was withheld”.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi was with Trudeau in Edmonton.

Notley walked down the steps of the Alberta legislature to greet Trudeau as he emerged from his auto.

Under so-called interim regulations last week by the Trudeau Liberals, that means waiting a little longer for Notley. They hosted a half-hour media availability starting at about 5:15 p.m. MT.

They include: Formalizing a moratorium on oil tanker traffic on the northern B.C. coast that handcuffs the already-permitted Northern Gateway pipeline; additional regulatory requirements for the proposed TransMountain pipeline expansion and the Energy East pipeline conversion that lengthen and duplicate already-unwieldy regulatory processes; reforms to the National Energy Board that shake confidence in Canada’s ability to get anything built; and a climate change test on export pipelines that gives Ottawa new powers over Alberta’s energy resources.

More than one person noted that Quebec politicians were biting the hand that feeds them, with that province receiving billions in equalization payments from have-provinces like Alberta over the years.

“We have been asking for years for that money to flow quickly and I am glad the government is committed to moving”.

The province’s oil sector is also looking for strong signals that Trudeau is serious about helping deliver its commodity to tidewater.

He warned if the industry can’t get its product to market, Alberta businesses would fail.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau declined today to answer several questions about whether Ottawa would provide targeted assistance for Alberta.

Morneau confirmed that Alberta is working on an application for up to $250 million in federal cash under the fiscal stabilization program, a plan created to help provinces struck by big year-to-year declines in revenues.

The prime minister is travelling to Calgary on Thursday where he, Notley and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr will take part in a roundtable with oil and gas producers and oil and gas service providers.

For the sake of the whole country, it’s important for Ottawa to partner with Alberta, said Deron Bilous, the provincial economic development minister.