St. Albert MP Michael Cooper says even though the Trans Mountain Pipeline has been approved by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet again, it doesn’t mean the pipeline will be built.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trudeau announced the approval for the pipeline expansion, which would add just fewer than 600,000 barrels per day of oil export capacity to Canadian oil producers.
Cooper said he hasn’t seen a real commitment to build the pipeline from the prime minister.
“I just haven’t seen any evidence that there is a plan to build the pipeline. The consultations were needed because Justin Trudeau failed the first time with his the consultation process that he undertook. But where the government's focus and energy appears to be is not in getting this pipeline built,” Cooper said.
The MP said he doesn’t believe Trudeau wants to get the pipeline built or he wouldn’t be “ramming through” Bills C-69 and C-48, which may make it more challenging to export Canadian energy products. Bill C-48 would bring in a oil tanker ban in northern B.C. and Bill C-69 would overhaul the environmental review process for major energy projects. The bills have been fiercely opposed by the oil industry and several Canadian provinces, including Alberta.
Both St. Albert NDP Marie Renaud and Cooper say getting this project built is important to not only Alberta but all of Canada.
“It's absolutely vital. We need to get our product to market and we need to become less reliant on a single customer, the U.S.,” Cooper said.
Renaud said the provincial oil producers need to be able to expand past the American market and get Canadian oil to overseas markets, while also addressing climate change in the process.
“The prime minister at the time was very clear, as that's why the approval was done was because of the climate leadership plan. And the emissions cap was part of that plan. And then he purchased the pipeline, again, because of the climate leadership plan,” Renaud said.
The MLA said this project was approved because of all the positive things Alberta was doing for the environment.
Renaud noted that the province needs to get the best price they can for oil so they can fund an energy transition.
Trudeau and his government bought the pipeline, which has become a Crown corporation, but on Tuesday he reaffirmed that the government does not intend to own the pipeline for long.
“We have no intention of being the long-term operator of the pipeline,” Trudeau said, adding they bought it to remove any political risk associated with the project.
The prime minister told reporters they plan to have shovels in the ground in 2019 and all of the money coming from the project and the future sale will be reinvested in green projects.
Last year, the approval of the pipeline was delayed after the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the federal government did not complete proper environmental assessments and consultations with indigenous communities.
The pipeline was purchased by the federal government in May 2018 for $4.5 billion but by the end of August the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Trudeau government’s approval of the pipeline expansion. The court ruled the National Energy Board’s review of the project was so flawed that the government could not rely on it to approve the project.
A new environmental assessment was undertaken and further consultation with Indigenous communities along the route of the pipeline began.
Trudeau said the government will continue consultations with indigenous communities to see how they can benefit from the pipeline project, which includes the possibility of ownership of the project.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the announcement was nothing to celebrate.
"This second approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline isn't a victory to celebrate, it's just another step in a process that has frankly taken too long and that's why we'll measure success not by today's decision, but by the beginning of actual construction, and more importantly, by completion of the pipeline." Kenney said Tuesday to reporters.
There is no timeline for the completion of the pipeline.
