Canada PM to act on pipeline crisis in days to come: province

FAN Editor
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a press conference at the end of the VIII Summit of the Americas in Lima
FILE PHOTO: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a press conference at the end of the VIII Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru April 14, 2018. REUTERS/Guadalupe Pardo

April 15, 2018

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The head of a Canadian province opposed to a planned pipeline expansion on Sunday met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for crisis talks and said Trudeau had made clear he would act soon to ensure the project went ahead.

Trudeau had called British Columbia Premier John Horgan to Ottawa for an emergency meeting to tackle an escalating dispute over Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd’s <KML.TO> plans to almost triple the capacity of its Trans Mountain pipeline.

Horgan said afterwards he had not changed his position that the risks of a spill from the pipeline were too great.

“He (Trudeau) said the federal government will be moving with legislative and financial measures in the days ahead,” Horgan told reporters but did not give details.

Trudeau was not immediately available for comment but is scheduled to speak later Sunday.

Kinder Morgan Canada, part of Kinder Morgan Inc <KMI.N>, is threatening to abandon the project unless it receives sufficient clarity about the path ahead on May 31. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley also attended the meeting, which Horgan said was very frank.

Although Trudeau’s Liberal government could invoke emergency powers to ensure the project goes ahead, that would most likely anger voters in British Columbia and cost the Liberals support in a federal election in October 2019.

But Trudeau is under increasing pressure from the business community and opposition politicians to take action amid fears the dispute could hit already flagging foreign investment.

Both the federal and Alberta governments have suggested they could take a stake in the project.

“There are enough determined parties that a solution will be reached. It won’t be easy – it’s not an easy issue, none of this is,” a senior government official said ahead of the meeting.

Horgan wants Ottawa to refer the matter to the Supreme Court but the Liberals are not interested, saying it is already clear the federal government has jurisdiction over the project.

He also said he would ask the courts in British Columbia to make clear how much powers the province had to protect the provincial environment. Federal officials complain this is a time-wasting tactic.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Lisa Shumaker)

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