Grande Prairie’s representative in Ottawa says it’s time for the federal government to intervene in the pipeline feud. Grande Prairie – Mackenzie MP Chris Warkentin says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be meeting with the premiers of both B.C. and Alberta as they wage war over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
“We’re now 440 days after the prime minister’s government announced that they were approving this pipeline. They have said time and time again that it will be built, but what I am afraid of, and what people in the industry and observers are very concerned about, is that this project is going to die simply because of all the delays.”
Warkentin points to the Energy East Pipeline, which was abandoned by TransCanada in October 2017. He says he understands why Kinder Morgan would be hesitant to start construction in Alberta without being confident they’ll be able to reach the B.C. coast.
“If there’s continued legal encumbrances in British Columbia, they would not be in their right mind if they started making massive investments of hundreds of millions of dollars in Alberta, starting to build the pipeline up to the border, without the assurance they could build clear to tidewater.”
The $7.4 billion project would triple the capacity of an existing pipeline running from the Edmonton area to Burnaby, B.C. Warkentin stresses it would add 15,000 jobs to Canada economy that would benefit people in both western provinces.
“This pipeline is important; it’s not end-all, be-all but it’s an important step forward to getting better market access. We would ask that the prime minister do his job so that Albertans can get to work to do their jobs.”
Alberta premier Rachel Notley warned Monday that she hasn’t ruled out more extreme options to retaliate against B.C. looking at restricting oil shipments. She says she’s giving the federal government a little space to try to resolve the dispute first.
