Canadian Government under fire for buying troubled oil pipeline

The Canadian Government has reached an agreement to buy the assets of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the C$4.5 billion ($3.4bn) deal with Texas-based company Kinder Morgan was “an investment in Canada’s future” and would protect thousands of jobs threatened by the project’s closure.

The 1,000 kilometre pipeline will link Canada’s oil-producing region in Alberta to the British Columbia coast. It will expand an existing pipeline and increase its capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels a day, ready for exporting to Asia and the US Pacific.

The project has proved controversial in the country with politicians, local communities and activists all seeking to stop the expansion.

Former US Vice-President, and climate leader, Al Gore weighed into the debate on Twitter, stating that “fossil fuels are subsidized 38x more than renewables globally. Now the Canadian government wants to spend billions more of taxpayer dollars to increase its country’s contribution to the climate crisis. This is not in the public interest”.

Canadian author and activist, Naomi Klein, called the move a “desperate scam” and that the decision would haunt Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The government in British Columbia has sought to restrict the flow of oil through the province, which has resulted in a crisis with neighbouring Alberta. Premier John Horgan said the announcement “(does) not change the risks of a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic, or the catastrophic effect a diluted bitumen spill would cause to British Columbia's economy and environment”.

Construction is expected to continue during the summer season and once complete will cost an estimated C$7.4 billion.

Some campaigners claimed the deal was at odds with the government’s pledge to protect the environment and take a lead on combating climate change.

Mike Hudema at Greenpeace Canada added: “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has just signed up to captain the Titanic of tar sands oil pipelines, putting it on a collision course with its commitments to Indigenous rights and the Paris climate agreement”.

 

Photo Credit: Dave Bezaire/Flickr