Alberta Premier Rachel Notley does not expect Trans Mountain construction will restart before the fall of 2019.
In a year-end interview, Notley told CTV News the lack of movement on the project has been frustrating but that the provincial government has always backed it.
“Every time there is some kind of barrier that we are confronted with, we have rolled up our sleeves and worked very hard to push through it. And we won’t stop doing that,” she said, referencing several impediments Trans Mountain faced in 2018.
When newly elected B.C. Premier John Horgan proposed limiting increases to the transportation of diluted bitumen into B.C., the Alberta government temporarily banned wine from the west-coast province, marking the start of months of tension between Alberta and B.C. over oil.
Notley also said she encouraged the federal government’s purchase of the project at the appearance of investor uncertainty.
But in August, the Federal Court of Appeal reversed Ottawa’s approval of the pipeline expansion, saying the government failed its duty to engage in “meaningful two-way dialogue” with First Nations.
The National Energy Board was given 22 weeks to redo its review of the Trans Mountain expansion, with a decision expected in February 2019.
“Even assuming that the NEB sticks to its timeline and we get the February decision—which I'm hopeful that we will do—there still needs to be meaningful, engaged, intentional, responsive consultation and accommodation with Indigenous people,” Notley said. “And that's going to take a few months.”
“But I do believe that we've made more progress than we ever have before, and we are closer than we ever have been before.”
Notley called the pipeline part of Alberta’s long-term plan for oil, saying the Alberta government’s recent decision to curtail production is only a short-term approach to shrinking the price differential.
Even then, closing the gap is expected to be a bumpy road. In the meantime, Alberta is negotiating buying two unit trains per day to increase the province’s takeaway capacity by 120,000 barrels daily. The province asked Ottawa for help in the plan, because “this is like a temporary, mobile pipeline, and that’s their job—not ours,” Notley said.
“But we’re not going to wait. We’re not going to delay because jobs are on the line. Albertans’ economy is on the line.”
To hear more from the premier on Alberta’s participation in the federal climate plan, Calgary’s Olympic bid and cannabis legalization, watch the videos above.
With files from Bill Fortier
