B.C. Insider: Premier, Energy Minister say Alberta's pipeline proposals aren't viable
Hi everyone, Mark Iype this morning, filling in for Wendy Cox.
Last week, B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix dismissed the idea of a new pipeline across the province, saying proposals coming from its immediate neighbour to the east are just not practical.
'We need projects that are actual projects – that are viable economic projects,' he said Wednesday, after the first ministers meeting held earlier in the week.
'With respect to pipelines and what we're seeing from the province of Alberta, we respond to practical proposals.'
Canada's premiers met June 2 in Saskatoon, where discussions around 'nation-building' energy projects were front and centre. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wants to find ways to ship more bitumen from her province, and has been pushing for the revival of the Northern Gateway pipeline project, which would move product to the northern coast of British Columbia.
But Dix says there is no economic case for the project, which is why there are no private-sector proponents looking to step up.
The minister's economic argument pointed out the high cost of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which cost Canadian taxpayers $34-billion, about six times what the project was initially pegged at.
Alberta's Energy Minister, Brian Jean, insisted that the project would be of national interest.
'Premier David Eby is on the record as saying that he will respect the Prime Minister's and Canadians' desire to build nation-building projects,' Jean said in a statement to The Globe and Mail last Wednesday.
'Of all the projects under consideration, this is the one that will lead to the most jobs, taxes, royalties and opportunities for Indigenous Canadians. This project is good for Albertans, British Columbians and Canadians.'
Eby, however, is not on board.
'It's not my job to tell Premier Smith that her vision for a North Coast pipeline is many, many years off and there's no proponent at this point,' he said while on his trade mission to East Asia.
'My job is to ensure that British Columbians' interests are protected and promoted, and one of those ways that we're doing that is driving forward shovel-ready projects.'
Both Dix and Eby also said that B.C. does not support the lifting of the ban on oil tankers off its coast, another of Smith's demands of the federal government.
The initial Northern Gateway plan faced protests and lawsuits from Indigenous and environmental groups, and was also opposed by the B.C. government.
The Federal Court of Appeal also ruled in 2016 that the Conservative government of Stephen Harper had failed to adequately consult Indigenous communities when it issued the conditional permit for the pipeline in 2014. The court ordered the new Liberal government to revisit the process, but then-prime minister Justin Trudeau killed the project.
Enbridge formally withdrew the project in 2017.
One expert, Amy Janzwood, an assistant professor in the department of political science and the Bieler School of the Environment at McGill University, said uncertainty about future demand for Alberta oil would likely keep the project shelved.
'The industry has not been in the market for new mega oil sands pipeline developments. They have long since moved away from this,' Janzwood told The Globe.
'I would be extremely shocked to see any kind of serious proposal, not to mention the political conflicts, Indigenous consultation and all of the challenges that come with mega infrastructure projects.'
This is the weekly British Columbia newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox. If you're reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.
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