Canada鈥檚 new natural resources minister won鈥檛 say whether the Liberals had a contingency plan in place in case a court quashed the permits for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. It鈥檚 a question both Conservative and NDP MPs are demanding he answer.
Minister Amarjeet Sohi was asked on CTV鈥檚 Power Play whether the Liberals anticipated the possibility of the federal court stopping construction on the project, which was purchased by the government from Kinder Morgan at a cost to taxpayers of $4.5 billion.
鈥淎s you can appreciate, this court ruling touches on two very important aspects where the court has identified issues and we鈥檙e reviewing those and we鈥檒l be responding to the court鈥檚 ruling in an expedited, timely manner,鈥� Sohi said.
last Thursday that Canada failed to assess the project鈥檚 potential harm on endangered killer whales and that it鈥檚 constitutionally required consultation with Indigenous people was flawed.
Sohi said that the current government inherited a 鈥渧ery flawed process鈥� from the previous Conservative government and made some changes, which the court 鈥渁ctually noted.鈥�
鈥淭he shortcoming was in the implementation of that process,鈥� he told Power Play. 鈥淥ur officials should have engaged in a meaningful two-way dialogue and finding mitigation and accommodation to the issues that have been identified by the Indigenous communities and that courts have identified,鈥� he added.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to move forward on finding remedies on those issues. But this is too important to not get built,鈥� he went on.
鈥淭his is about creating jobs for Canadians, this is about getting our resources to non-U.S. markets. I鈥檓 from Alberta here. I can tell you how frustrating it is that we鈥檝e had our resources landlocked for decades,鈥� he added.
Earlier in the day, the Liberal majority on the natural resources committee refused to allow a motion that called for six special meetings to probe the pipeline's prospects and examine why the government bought the assets despite the impending court decision.
One of the MPs who put forward the motion, Conservative Shannon Stubbs, told Power Play she wants to know whether the Liberals 鈥渉ad contemplated the risk and what they had they prepared in terms of scenarios in either outcome of the court ruling鈥� and 鈥渨hat exactly are the next steps they will be taking to meet the instructions around consultation coming from the court ruling?鈥�
Stubbs said the Liberals have a variety of options at this point, including 鈥渁n immediate appeal to the Supreme Court.鈥�
NDP MP Nathan Cullen told Power Play he wants to know whether the Liberals anticipated that the federal court鈥檚 decision might not go their way.
鈥淓ither they didn鈥檛 anticipate this and this is their response ... or they did anticipate this, which is almost worse because they thought they might lose this court case and threw $4.5 billion at Kinder Morgan who made off like bandits,鈥� he said.
The federal NDP have long opposed the pipeline expansion project. So too has the B.C. government and some First Nations along the route, including the Tsleil-Waututh, who brought forward the court challenge.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that the government is 鈥渓ooking carefully at the court ruling to understand what the path forward is.鈥�
He said that not having a new pipeline to the Pacific Ocean makes Canada 鈥渁 prisoner of the United States鈥� when it comes to selling Canadian resources.
