Trans Mountain pipeline project will be built, says PM Trudeau
Ottawa, Feb 2 (IBNS): Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is firm on the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline despite the feuds between Alberta and British Colunbia (B.C.) over new restrictions on shipments of bitumen that will flow through pipeline networks from Alberta to the West Coast, media reports said.
"We have a federal government to look out for the national interest above various disagreements within the provinces and we did exactly that on the Trans Mountain pipeline," Trudeau said in an interview with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.
"I'm not going to opine on disagreements between the provinces in this case," Trudeau, who was in Edmonton for a town hall meeting at MacEwan University, part of a series of meetings in Western Canada, was reported to state.
"We're just going to reiterate that the decision we made was in the national interest and we're going to move forward with that decision, which means we're going to get the Trans Mountain pipeline built," he said.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley had threatened to take legal action against new spill restrictions in B.C. which is expected to further delay Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, media reports said.
Trudeau said the $7.4-billion project was approved by the federal government in 2016 and added, 'We can't continue to be trapped' .
"We know that getting our oil resources to new markets across the Pacific is absolutely essential...We need this pipeline and we're going to move forward with it responsibly like I committed to," Trudeau was reported to state.
Describing the proposal as an "unconstitutional attack", Notley vowed to fight the policy in court.
Constitutional Ottawa has jurisdiction over federal infrastructure projects like pipelines, but B.C. has a strong legal standing over environmental threats within its borders, Eric Adams, an associate professor in the faculty of law at the University of Alberta specializing in constitutional law, was reported to state.
According to constitutional law, Trudeau could pull rank and make the project expansion happen through legal sanctions, said Adams, but it's more likely that the dispute will be resolved in the courts.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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