Trans Mountain pipeline ruling draws mixed reaction

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – This case has always been about First Nations’ rights: that’s coming from B.C. Premier John Horgan after the Federal Court of Appeals dealt a significant blow to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.

“This has always been about the Tsleil-Waututh asserting their view that the N.E.B. process was flawed and did not take into consideration their rights and title,” Horgan said to reporters hours after the ruling.

He admits he had not spoken to Premier Rachel Notley following the decision and before he spoke with the media, but understands this will likely be a “devastating decision” to many in Alberta.

“I think that Alberta will acknowledge this was a court ruling, and they have recourse to appeal and await their decision,” he said, adding he planned to be on a call with Notley, the prime minister and other premiers later in the day to talk about NAFTA and trade. “My responsibility is to the people of British Columbia, and our position has been that the marine environment is part and partial of our vibrant economy, and it wasn’t considered by the previous federal government and it wasn’t given due consideration by the current federal government.”

What the next few days will hold is unclear at this point, but Horgan adds Thursday’s decision is a victory for Indigenous peoples.

Horgan vows to “continue to represent the interests of British Columbia.”

The Federal Court of Appeal ruled Thursday morning that the federal government failed to adequately consult with First Nations and other stakeholders before it approved the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. The feds now must resubmit the project to the National Energy Board for approval.

“I’m confident that there will be those that will have differing opinions over the days and weeks ahead, but I would hope that all Canadians would understand and recognize.”

Meantime, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says the decision validates his city’s concerns about marine impacts and Indigenous consultation.

“This decision is a monumental win for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and all of us who stand with them in firm opposition to a project that would massively increase climate pollution and put our coast at huge risk of oil spills,” he said in a statement.

Trans Mountain suspending construction

In light of the court’s decision, Kinder Morgan is currently taking steps to suspend construction on the expansion project.

“We are reviewing the decision with the Government of Canada and are taking the appropriate time to assess next steps,” Ian Anderson, president of Kinder Morgan Canada Limited, says in a statement. “We remain committed to building this Project in consideration of communities and the environment, with meaningful consultation with Indigenous Peoples and for the benefit of Canadians.”

Anderson adds the court’s decision “was not a condition of the transaction” between Kinder Morgan and the federal government.

The company resumed work on the pipeline earlier this month after it halted all non-essential spending in April.

Meantime, Kinder Morgan shareholders voted more than 99 per cent in favour of the sale of its Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion project to the federal government for $4.5 billion

Feds, opposition weigh in

“As we move ahead with the project and the purchase, our government remains committed to ensuring the project proceeds in a manner that protects the public interest,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Thursday. “That means ensuring the highest level over governance — including environmental protection. It means upholding or commitments with Indigenous peoples and it means responsibly protecting Canada’s and Canadians’ investment.”

He stands by the claim that the project is still in the national interest.

“Taken together, today’s decisions from the Federal Court of Appeal and Kinder Morgan shareholders are important next steps in getting this project built in the right way for the benefit of all Canadians,” he said in Toronto.

 

Meantime, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer believes the decision is “devastating news for energy workers across Canada and for Canadian taxpayers,” and took the opportunity to pin blame on the Trudeau government.

“Here we are, well into this process, and the Trudeau government has no plan whatsoever to get Trans Mountain built,” he said in Winnipeg. Clearly, the ruling indicated that the Trudeau government could not even follow its own process, that it failed to hit the standards that it had imposed for itself. That is extremely alarming.”

A victory of due process

Meanwhile, BC Green Party leader Andrew Weaver says Thursday’s ruling is a victory for First Nations’ rights and due process.

“The vindication comes in the fact that the Federal Court of Appeal have used the words ‘impermissibly flawed’ to describe the fact that the national energy board, constructed under the previous government, actually did not consider the potential effects of marine shipping and viewed that as out of scope,” he says.

He also suggested that Ottawa’s approval of the project was payback for Alberta’s support on the national climate change plan, support which Rachel Notley has since announced will no longer be there.

Weaver says it’s not too late now for the federal government to cancel the purchase of what he’s calling a “lemon” pipeline.

“They bought this car, they didn’t even kick the tires nor did they look under the hood,” he says. “We’ve got a real problem here in Canada with the way this was going forward and hopefully the government will recognize — after they kick this can down past to the next federal election — the error in their ways and this whole thing will just go away.”

Decision ‘unfortunate,’ but it’s not all doom and gloom: CTF

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation isn’t as supportive of the court ruling.

On its face, the CTF calls the decision “unfortunate,” but points to some positives.

“We want to see this pipeline built and this is going to delay that,” Aaron Wudrick, Federal Director of the CTF, says. “But the good news is the court was pretty clear in its decision that they don’t need to go back to square one. They do need to fix some of the consultation process, but the court itself said it could be brief and efficient, as long as it’s meaningful.”

The CTF wants the federal government to move quickly in order to ensure there’s minimal delay in actually getting the pipeline built.

“Because the longer the delay, the higher the cost for Canadian taxpayers,” he adds.

RELATED: ‘Time for Canadian niceties is over’: Alberta Premier on Trans Mountain pipeline ruling

Wudrick expects there to be much debate moving forward, but highlights the importance of moving quickly in order to eliminate even more delay.

From the CTF’s point of view, the group would have preferred the federal government not purchase the pipeline, Wudrick says, but he admits it’s not entirely the feds’ fault.

“But they made a number of very bad choices,” he tells NEWS 1130. “Overselling the carbon tax social license, cancelling two other pipelines and boxing themselves in. I don’t think they had much choice in the end but to buy it, but obviously, in retrospect, a very bad decision given that they just shifted the risk from Kinder Morgan’s shareholders onto the backs of Canadian taxpayers.”

On the argument that the purchase is a federal investment, Wudrick says the pipeline will have to be built first before that’s determined.

“The risk now is on our backs, not on a private-sector company.”

–With files from Kurtis Doering, Marcella Bernardo, and the Canadian Press