Trudeau pledges money, new law to make Trans Mountain happen — Sunday summit

Maybe this realization is what caused former Progressive Conservative Party MLA, energy minister and two-time failed leadership candidate Rick Orman to go right over the top, as it were, and demand yesterday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau call out the army to crush B.C.’s “eco-terrorists”.

Argue all you want about pipelines, oil tankers, the coast and come to an educated opinion, but also consider why the debate has come to this and whose advantage the various opinions serve.

With files from the Canadian Press. And he chose, politically, to cut those down to Trans Mountain alone.

The company said that to proceed, it must reach agreement by May 31 with the various stakeholders: the British Columbia government, First Nations, municipalities, etc.

The interprovincial battle over Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline escalated Monday as Alberta introduced legislation that allows the province to restrict oil and gas exports, and British Columbia vowed to fight back.

The Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) and Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC) both put out statements on April 16 in support of the Alberta government’s moves in this regard. Even as he promises to build a pipeline, he has promised to “phase out” the oilsands (the very same oilsands for which he claims he is building the Kinder Morgan pipeline).

If people in the B.C. government really believed what they said about energy, they should welcome fuel that’s prohibitively expensive and in short supply.

“There’s only one Government of Canada and we have determined that the pipeline’s in Canada’s interest”, Carr told reporters Tuesday.

Kinder Morgan chief executive officer Steven Kean said that “a company cannot litigate its way to an in-service pipeline amidst jurisdictional differences between governments” and that Kinder Morgan can’t expose shareholders to “extraordinary political risks that are completely outside of our control and that could prevent completion of the project”.

The question is, how much of that electorate will leave the Liberals over Kinder Morgan, and will it translate into a serious seat loss? It did not mention active indigenous opposition, however.

“B.C. hasn’t helped itself, it has taken far too long”, said Jason MacLean, assistant professor of environmental law at the University of Saskatchewan.

Ottawa has also painted the problem as a struggle between federal and provincial jurisdiction.

A reference court case is a way for a government to test in advance whether a proposed law is legal before passing it – and potentially stave off future legal challenges to that law.

Provincial leaders, meanwhile, have emerged on opposite sides of the issue.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has indicated her province would consider purchasing the Trans Mountain pipeline.

For his part, BC Premier John Horgan has been a vocal opponent of Trans Mountain.

Yet the real work will come when the prime minister sits down with his British counterpart as the two leaders look to compare notes on everything from Syria and Russian Federation to Brexit and the Commonwealth.

The criticism didn’t just come from out-of-province. The province’s pipelines have been filled to capacity since earlier this year, owing to a surge in oilsands production.

“That’s something that we would look at very closely, and if not mirroring (Alberta’s bill) being something similar”.

In 2017 Cherry Point imported 16.2 million barrels of Canadian crude, or about 44,340 b/d, US Energy Information Administration data shows.

“We hope that the measures will not need to be implemented and that we are able to find a prompt resolution to the current impasse that reflects the needs and concerns of industry and other stakeholders”, CEPA president Chris Bloomer said.

But three-in-10 Canadians (as well as federal voters in B.C.) said they were undecided who they would vote for in the next federal election.