Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has given approval to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Trudeau announced the decision from Ottawa Tuesday afternoon, clearing the last regulatory hurdle before the company can build the pipeline, which will triple the amount of bitumen destined for the Westridge terminal and increase five-fold the number of Aframax Tankers departing from Burrard Inlet.
Trudeau said the deeply controversial pipeline project was safe, necessary for creating middle-class jobs and ensuring Canada is economically strong enough to transition to a carbon-free economy.
“We also know this transition requires investment and that this will not happen overnight to fund this change to a carbon-free world,” he said. “We said that major pipelines could only get built if we had a price on carbon and strong environmental protections in place. We said that Indigenous peoples must be respected and be a part of the process and we said we would only build projects that could be built and run safely,” he said.
Trudeau’s statement did not mention his campaign promise that pipelines must have community consent, which, at the end of the ministerial panel hearings in September, Burnaby North-Seymour MP Terry Beech said had not been granted.
Trudeau acknowledged that Beech has been one of the project’s most substantive critics, among many in B.C.
“To them and to all Canadians, I want to say this: If I thought this project was unsafe for the B.C. Coast, I would reject it,” he said. “This is a decision based on rigorous debate, based on science and on evidence. We have not been and will not be swayed by political arguments, be they local, regional or national.”
Trudeau acknowledged the deep controversy that surrounds the project and said he too bears some of the risk.
“I share a deep and abiding sense of responsibly for our spectacular West Coast. Indeed it is a personal issue for me,” he said, noting he spent much of his youth visiting his grandparents on the North Shore and spent years as a teacher in Vancouver.
North Vancouver’s Tsleil-Waututh Nation remains steadfast in its opposition to the pipeline expansion and is vowing to continue the fight.
“Right now Prime Minister Trudeau is approving a project that is a violation of our stewardship policy and our law” said Tsleil-Waututh council member Charlene Aleck in a statement. “Their permits are illegitimate, I believe they will be thrown out in court, this is just the beginning of another phase of this conversation.”
The decision is also a black mark for what the Tsleil-Waututh had hoped would be a step towards reconciliation with the federal government.
“There is a terrible history of the mistreatment of First Nations people in Canada. It saddens me because we hoped things might be different with Trudeau but today’s decision is a big step backwards,” she said.
Rueben George, manager of the Sacred Trust Initiative said protests to halt construction are also likely. “We’re ready and willing to do whatever it takes to stop this pipeline,” he said.
North Shore NOPE (No Pipeline Expansion) founder Janice Edmonds said the Liberals have misjudged the benefits and the risks of the project. “He hasn’t read any of (the evidence)” she said. “It’s definitely too dangerous.”
Edmonds also called out the Liberals on the broken promise.
“They said they wouldn’t build anything without community consent. He doesn’t have that,” she said. “He promised that to me.”
North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson said there is a range of opinion within the community on the pipeline.
“I think there’s certainly a group within the constituency that are opposed, and a group that are in favour. The majority are in the middle,” he said. “They have concerns and want to know they are being addressed in a thoughtful way and are open to conversation.”
As such, Wilkinson said he didn’t believe the Liberals had broken an election promise.
Wilkinson, who is the parliamentary secretary for climate change, said the decision is consistent with Canada’s commitments made at this year’s Paris climate talks.
Wilkinson said he will be meeting with the Tsleil-Waututh leadership on Wednesday to discuss their concerns.
