Liberals approve Trans Mountain pipeline, reject Northern Gateway plan
With lesser-known Enbridge Line 3 pipeline replacement also approved, one environmental advocate says there is no way Canada can hold up the Paris Agreement

TheStar.com
Nov. 29, 2016
Alex Boutilier and Bruce Campion-Smith

The Liberal government has approved two major pipeline projects, including a controversial plan to transport Alberta oil to British Columbia’s coast, setting up a showdown between Ottawa and local political and First Nations leaders.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced late Tuesday afternoon his government has approved the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement pipeline.

The $6.8-billion Trans Mountain project would add 980 kilometres of new pipeline between Edmonton, Alta. and Burnaby, B.C. Importantly, it would open up a route to the Pacific for Alberta’s oilsands.

But it has faced strong opposition in British Columbia, including from First Nations communities, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, and local Liberal MPs.

Trudeau acknowledged there are bitterly held positions on the pipeline. But the prime minister personally pledged that the pipeline is “safe” for B.C.

“To them, and to all Canadians, I want to say this: if I thought this project was unsafe for the B.C. coast, I would reject it,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottawa, flanked by several of his cabinet ministers.

“This is a decision based on rigorous debate, on science, and on evidence. We have not been, and will not be, swayed by political arguments . . . . We have made this decision because we are convinced it is safe for B.C., and it is the right one for Canada.”

During the announcement, Trudeau repeatedly pointed to recent steps the Liberals have announced to protect the environment — including committing to wean Canada off coal by 2030 and a five-year, $1.5-billion coastal protection initiative.

But critics have pointed to the tension between approving new oil pipelines while committing to the Paris Agreement on emission reductions.

“Today’s announcement may as well have said that Canada is pulling out of the Paris climate agreement,” Aurore Fauret, a campaign director with environmental advocacy group 350.org, said in a statement.

“By approving the Kinder Morgan and Line 3 pipelines, there is no way Canada can meet those commitments.”

Trudeau insisted there was no contradiction between Canada’s environmental agenda and the approval of these two pipelines. In fact, the prime minister suggested the Liberals’ environmental efforts give them more of a licence to get pipelines built.

“We are able to approve pipeline projects because we have significant measures in place, including a price on carbon pollution, a world class oceans protection plan, because we’re phasing out coal, because we’re demonstrating real climate leadership,” Trudeau said.

“Those two things go together.”

The Liberals also approved Line 3, a replacement and expansion of Enbridge’s 1960’s-era pipeline from Alberta to Wisconsin. The $7.5 billion project, which faces local opposition but has garnered little national attention, is expected to increase oil exports from 390,000 barrels per day to 760,000.

Finally, the Liberals rejected Enbridge’s controversial Northern Gateway proposal, which would have transported Alberta oil through the Great Bear Rainforest to Kitimat, B.C. The move was widely expected, with Trudeau saying for over a year that the rainforest is no place for an oil pipeline.

Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose criticized that decision, a move she said would cost 4,000 jobs. And Ambrose said it was a questionable decision because of the uncertainty that still swirls around the Kinder Morgan project, which she suggested “will never get built.”

“There was no reason why we should have taken (Northern Gateway) off the table,” she told reporters.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said Trudeau “betrayed” the trust of B.C. residents on Kinder Morgan, after promising a more stringent review process than the previous Conservative government.

“He doesn’t have social licence for Kinder Morgan. Heck, he doesn’t even have a learner’s permit,” Mulcair said.

“It’s a broken promise that the people of British Columbia are going to hold him to account for . . . . He got a lot of votes in British Columbia because of that promise.”

Another New Democrat, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, had a different take. Notley cheered the Liberals’ decision, calling it a chance for Alberta to “break (their) landlock.”

“Without looking at one particular line or one particular company, what we said is we need to get our product to tidewater so that we can get to new markets,” Notley told reporters outside the House of Commons, after a meeting with Trudeau.

“That’s what’s happened in today’s announcement so that is good news for Alberta.”