Prove you didn’t prejudge Trans Mountain approval, NDP leader urges Liberals

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is accusing the federal Liberal government of rigging its review process in favour of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

And if he’s wrong, Singh wants Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to release any and all documentation to prove otherwise.

Singh and NDP energy critic Guy Caron have written to Trudeau about media reports that suggest the government had decided to go ahead with Trans Mountain long before the evaluation process was complete.

In their letter, released today, they say the approval was based purely on a political calculation, rather than on whether or not the project would be in the national interest.

Kinder Morgan declared earlier this month it was halting all non-essential spending on the controversial expansion, which has been beset by protests and is at the centre of a fierce dispute between the governments of B.C. and Alberta.

The expansion — which B.C. is blocking — would twin an existing pipeline from Alberta’s oilsands to Kinder Morgan’s Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C., where diluted bitumen would be loaded onto oil tankers for export.

“These revelations throw into question the legitimacy of the government’s entire review as they point to an approval based on political interests,” the letter reads.

“To address these serious concerns, we urge you to release all relevant documentation associated with the review process, including those subject to cabinet confidentiality.”