The B.C. government is carrying on with its reference case against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, Premier John Horgan told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an early-morning phone call Tuesday.
Horgan told reporters in Victoria the federal governmentB次元官网网址檚 takeover of the project changes the legal situation, but his contentious legal action isnB次元官网网址檛 aimed at any specific project. ItB次元官网网址檚 about the provinceB次元官网网址檚 jurisdiction to regulate bitumen transport by pipeline, rail or road and B.C. lawyers have advised that it can proceed, he said.
The federal takeover of the existing line makes the Trudeau government B次元官网网址渢otally accountableB次元官网网址� for risks of a tanker spill, and B次元官网网址渁llows me to have more candid conversations with the owners of the pipeline,B次元官网网址� Horgan said.
B.C. Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson said taxpayers will be the owners of the project.
B次元官网网址淛ohn Horgan picked a fight with Alberta and provoked a constitutional crisis with Ottawa over this project and this is now the embarrassing result,B次元官网网址� Wilkinson said. B次元官网网址淗organ and the NDP will continue to play politics with British ColumbiaB次元官网网址檚 future, and this time it will cost us billions.B次元官网网址�
Alberta is putting up to $2 billion towards construction of the project, and work is underway to get construction going, Premier Rachel Notley said Tuesday.
Notley held a jubilant news conference in front of the legislature in Edmonton after the federal government announced it is buying the 65-year-old oil pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 very possible we might not have to spend a cent of it,B次元官网网址� Notley said of the financial backing, which would be payable only when oil begins to flow from the twinned pipeline. Any money put toward construction would be converted into an equity stake in the federal project, she said.
Notley said the federal takeover gives the project B次元官网网址渇ederal Crown immunity,B次元官网网址� which casts doubt on B.C.B次元官网网址檚 reference case to test the provinceB次元官网网址檚 jurisdiction.
