Should, would, could. Trans Mountain followed all the rules, and then many more imposed by his predecessor, Christy Clark. Horgan needs to accept that and move on.<\/p>\n
Horgan denies his government is harassing the project. That’s rich, since his government made it its priority to use \u201cevery tool in the toolbox\u201d to frustrate it. It has done that through lawsuits, regulations, support for Burnaby\u2019s denial of municipal permits, even working closely with foreign-funded eco-activists orchestrating protests to disrupt work at the pipeline\u2019s Westridge terminal.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s his job to enforce the law, Horgan praised protesters who got arrested. \u201cInvestors at Kinder Morgan have to be moved by the passion of British Columbians that are emerging in many dozens to be arrested on a daily basis,” he said.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a more accurate reading of the situation: Investors are horrified that B.C., under Horgan, is institutionalizing environmental extremism. Val Litwin, president and CEO of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, said if the pipeline can\u2019t move forward it will have broad implications for resource development in B.C. and Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a federally approved undertaking and our Prime Minister can\u2019t afford to ease up on public efforts to see this project complete; he must take actions to guarantee this project is built as Canada and B.C.\u2019s reputations as markets worthy of investment depend on it,” Litwin said.<\/p>\n
Horgan said there should be no retribution against B.C. for the collapse of the Trans Mountain expansion because \u201cthe Energy East pipeline was stopped and there was no consequences from that. The Keystone XL pipeline was stopped and may well begin again, and there was no adverse consequence as a result of that. It is my view that British Columbia should have an equal say to other jurisdictions when these projects come forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Energy East pipeline was not federally approved when it was cancelled. The Keystone XL pipeline was spiked by U.S. President Barack Obama\u2019s permit denial. In contrast, the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain expansion has been approved both by Ottawa and B.C., after meeting five conditions laid out by Clark. Horgan doesn\u2019t seem to grasp the implications of messing with a lawfully approved project.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current developments are a real test of Canada\u2019s commitment to the rule of law and the ability of any resource company to rely on the legal approval process for projects,\u201d said Dwight Newman, one of Canada\u2019s top constitutional scholars and Munk senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.<\/p>\n Horgan doesn\u2019t accept that his intransigence could compromise Canada\u2019s climate change plan.<\/p>\n \u201cCanada is embarking on what they should, a comprehensive national plan to fight climate change,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I support that. In fact, British Columbians have been supporting that for the past decade. We have $35 a tonne levied on carbon pricing here in British Columbia, the only province in the country to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n In reality, the survival of the national plan is not about B.C. It\u2019s about Alberta, in particular, accepting more than its share of pain to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in exchange for pipeline approvals. If Horgan kills Trans Mountain, it could be the end of fellow NDP Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, and the election next year of United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney, who has promised to immediately repeal the carbon tax if he gets elected and to be less reasonable with B.C.’s obstructionism.<\/p>\n To diminish the importance to Alberta and Canada of the Trans Mountain project, Horgan refers to it as a Texas project, adopting the pejorative jargon of eco-activists dependent on U.S. funding and organizational support to run their campaigns.<\/p>\n \u201cThe interest of the Texas boardrooms are not the interests of British Columbians,\u201d Horgan said. In fact, Kinder Morgan Canada has been publicly traded since last year and is 77-per-cent owned by Canadians, with Manulife and TD the biggest shareholders. Its shippers are predominantly Canadian oilsands producers and Canada as a whole benefits from the pipeline\u2019s opening of the Asian market.<\/p>\n Horgan says he has \u201cno intention of escalating controversy across the country\u201d and that his preoccupation is the people of British Columbia, ensuring they have affordable homes and a prosperous economy that is mindful of the environment.<\/p>\n In reality, British Columbians are conflicted about his heavy-handed pipeline crusade. According to a recent Abacus Data Inc. poll of 900 B.C. residents, more people support than oppose the project. Among the 62 per cent who find persuasive the argument that the \u201cproject will greatly increase the risk of an oil spill,\u201d more than half (59 per cent) also find the argument that \u201cstopping this pipeline could end up polarizing the country and lead to a reduction in the commitment to fight climate change\u201d is persuasive.<\/p>\n Horgan’s actions have already triggered a trade war with Alberta, fomented irrational fears about oil spills, put the spotlight on B.C. for all the wrong reasons, and exposed his province to potentially hard retribution from both from Alberta and from Ottawa. If Horgan doesn’t see that, he’s not looking.<\/p>\n Financial Post<\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Email: ccattaneo@nationalpost.com<\/a> | Twitter: cattaneooutwest<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Claudia Cattaneo: B.C. premier is responding with so much indifference over the distress he’s causing, that his constituents should worry about his judgment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4524"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4526,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4524\/revisions\/4526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wpmedia.business.financialpost.com\/2018\/04\/fp0410_pipeline_tables_c_mf.png?w=640&h=778\")
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