Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s going to allow the National Energy Board to do its work and not politically interfere in the pipeline approval process.
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Alberta’s economic woes are also being felt across the country and it has increased pressure on Ottawa to back pipelines that will move Alberta-mined bitumen to tidewater.
But he believes that this initiative should be left in the hands of prime ministers, as Ms. Notley, “who understood that we cannot separate the environment and the economy”, he said. He said the federal Liberal government looked to “First Nations and Indigenous peoples as partners in all that happens in this land”.
The spending will come with a heavy price tag if oil stays low. “It’s about aligning the country”.
The province’s oil sector is looking for strong signals that Trudeau is serious about helping deliver its commodity to the coasts where it can be shipped to foreign markets.
“It depends on the list and what goes on there and the number of projects”, he said.
Canada is also largely dependent on the United States for its export market, and the country’s heavy oil sells at a significant discount – or differential – to lighter varieties of North American crude. We weren’t looking for incentives to get us through to the next stage. TransCanada’s Corp.’s Energy East project faces stiff opposition from Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and mayors in the surrounding area, who have argued that the environmental and safety risks outweigh the economic benefits.
On Wednesday, Trudeau agreed to fast-track $700-million of infrastructure money to assist Alberta, but London Mayor Matt Brown says he doesn’t think that will impact plans for London, or any other cities.
But the visit showed the substantive changes in tone between Ottawa and Alberta.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi was with Trudeau in Edmonton. The Prime Minister praised the province’s climate-change plan, which will increase carbon taxes, limit the growth of greenhouse-gas emissions from the oil sands and see the phasing out of coal-fired power plants.
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Asked about the possibility of a carbon tax that would be national, Trudeau noted that it would be discussed at the next meeting with the premiers of the provinces and territories in a few weeks.
