Alberta premier fails to get B.C. NDP to back oil pipeline project

Rob Shaw
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Canada’s NDP premier has failed to persuade B.C.’s NDP leader to support Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Premier Rachel Notley and B.C. Opposition leader John Horgan met in Vancouver Monday evening for dinner to discuss the pipeline, which Notley has argued will bring much-needed jobs and economic development, but which Horgan has vowed to oppose because it represents an unacceptable environmental risk.

“She made the case that this was in the best interests of Canada, and I made the case that I didn’t believe it was in the best interests of British Columbia,” said Horgan.

“We talked about the challenges she faces and I talked to her about the things I want to do in the coming months. We found we agreed on nine out of 10 subjects, but we didn’t agree on Kinder Morgan.”

Notley spent two days in B.C. promoting the Trans Mountain expansion, which was approved last week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and will triple the flow of oil from Edmonton to Burnaby. It will also result in seven times the oil tanker traffic off B.C.’s coast.

Horgan said the dinner was just a meeting of two old friends (Notley worked as a staffer for the B.C. NDP governments of the 1990s) that had been caught up in the publicity of Notley’s trip.

“I had no intention of being persuaded, she had no intention of persuading,” said Horgan. “She made her case, I’d heard it before and understood it, and I told her my views, and she heard them before and understood it.”

Notley has said there are many issues that unite New Democrats, but the party is also able to have a healthy disagreement within its Canada and B.C. wings on items like Kinder Morgan.

“I haven’t changed his mind,” Notley told CBC Radio on Tuesday. “He is still very committed to standing up for his constituents. And that is fine. But I am still going to come out here and make my case.”

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