The Liberal federal government expects to get $500 million a year out of the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline and is promising to spend it all on cleaner sources of energy and projects that pull carbon out of the atmosphere.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau told the Canadian Press in an interview this week that the expanded pipeline is not fodder for negotiating with other parties in the minority government. Rather, he said, it is a crucial piece of the puzzle of financing sa国际传媒鈥檚 transition to a clean energy economy.
鈥淲e purchased it for a reason,鈥� said Morneau. 鈥淲e now see how it can help us accelerate our clean- energy transition by putting any revenues that we get from it into a transition to clean energy. We think that is the best way we can move forward in our current context.鈥�
The Liberal government bought the existing pipeline for $4.5 billion in 2018, in a bid to overcome the opposition of the British Columbia government to the expansion.
Federally, the NDP and Greens 鈥� the two parties with the most in common with the Liberals on climate change 鈥� think the expansion should be cancelled. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh underlined that point in a statement Thursday about a phone call the previous day with Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley. 鈥淢s. Notley repeated her support for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and I told her that I continue to oppose the pipeline expansion,鈥� Singh said, though he added: 鈥淲hile we disagree on TMX, we share concern for the workers.鈥�
The NDP has enough seats to support the Liberals through any confidence votes. But while the NDP leader has said he wants tougher climate action, Singh has stopped short of using the pipeline as a line in the sand, suggesting that ship has effectively sailed.
Morneau said construction on the pipeline is underway and the decision to go forward has been made, which means there is really no way to use it as a bargaining chip in the minority government.
鈥淢y expectation is that we have much common ground between the other parties that have been elected to the next Parliament,鈥� said Morneau. 鈥淲e will be seeking consensus on how we can move forward on that common ground. This project we鈥檝e already moved forward on. It鈥檚 one that we鈥檝e said that we鈥檙e moving forward on, we鈥檝e actually already gone through that process.鈥�
The Liberals were accused Thursday of a 鈥渓ack of coherence鈥� on the party鈥檚 plans to expand the pipeline and fight climate change, with environmental groups urging the government to better protect nature and animal species at risk.
鈥淔rom our perspective, there鈥檚 strong concern with the lack of coherence between moving ahead on a plan to address climate change while investing in fossil-fuel infrastructure,鈥� said Nature sa国际传媒 campaigns director Gauri Sreenivasan during a press conference on Parliament Hill.
鈥淚n these early days, when we鈥檙e identifying the first priorities for sa国际传媒, let鈥檚 focus on an action that has a lot of support from Canadians across the country, that will make big advances for our climate goals.鈥�
Construction on the expansion is supposed to be done by the middle of 2022. The Liberal platform forecasted taking revenues of $125 million from Trans Mountain sa国际传媒 in 2021-22 and then $500 million in each of the next two years.
Eventually, Morneau said, the plan is to sell it back to the private sector and all of the revenues from the sale will then go to clean energy development and other climate change action projects.
The one specific promise the Liberals made that they connected to pipeline revenues was a $300-million annual fund for natural climate solutions including tree planting, as well as conservation and restoration of forests, grasslands, agricultural lands and coastal areas.
On Thursday, NDP MP Peter Julian questioned Morneau鈥檚 assertion an expanded pipeline will generate the promised amount of money, and accused the Liberals of hiding the true costs of the expansion project.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 auditor general warned this year that completing the expansion by the end of 2021 would cost $9.3 billion, though some analysts have suggested it is now closer to $12 billion.
鈥淔or the moment, what we鈥檙e demanding from the government is they come clean on the actual construction costs,鈥� said Julian, who represents the sa国际传媒 riding of New Westminster-Burnaby. 鈥淎nd we know that once the public is aware of how much this is going to cost us and what the consequences are of pushing through TMX ... the less they support it.鈥�
Yet Julian sidestepped questions about whether his party would tie any support for the Liberal minority government to ending the project 鈥� or getting answers about its costs.
鈥淭his shouldn鈥檛 even be a discussion,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got a multibillion-dollar project that the government says is good for sa国际传媒 and the costs are skyrocketing through the roof.鈥�
Construction on the pipeline resumed in August, starting with work on the marine terminals in Burnaby and pumping stations in Alberta. The first 50 kilometres of pipeline will start being laid near Edmonton shortly, a spokesperson for Trans Mountain sa国际传媒 said.
So far, more than 2,200 workers have been hired.
鈥� With reporting from Catherine Levesque and Lee Berthiaume
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2019.
