Trans Mountain ‘pipeline is going to get built’: Trudeau dismisses B.C.’s bitumen ban
- Thread starter mentalfloss
- Start date
Vaughn Palmer: Down to the last tool in the tool box, the legal bills keep climbing for Horgan in pipeline fight
VICTORIA — With the federal government expected to have another go at green-lighting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, this is a good time to check whether the B.C. government has any tools left to stop it.
The promise to “use every tool in our tool box to stop the project from going ahead” was concocted by John Horgan and the New Democrats in advance of the last provincial election.
Never mind that the twinning of the line had already been approved by the National Energy Board and the federal cabinet.
But when asked how B.C. could override federal jurisdiction on an interprovincial infrastructure project, Horgan went all coy.
“There’s a whole host of other legal remedies available to us,” he told reporters in the closing days of the 2017 campaign.
Could he cite even one specific tool?
“I’m going to be discussing those with the prime minister the day after the election,” replied the soon-to-be-premier.
Perhaps Horgan had already checked with the legal and constitutional experts and discovered that in terms of stopping the project, the province didn’t have a legal leg to stand on.
Perhaps he hadn’t asked because he didn’t want the distraction of knowing the tool box was less well-stocked than, say, the home handyman section at his local Canadian Tire.
Either way, after Horgan attained the office of premier with the support of the Greens, the truth of the matter wasn’t long in smacking him in the face.
He was told even before he and his ministers took the oaths of office July 18: In terms of stopping the federally approved pipeline expansion, the province had no legal options. Period.
“When the premier offered me the position,” Environment Minister George Heyman later confided, “he was very clear that as part of transition, he had been given the legal advice that stopping the project was beyond the jurisdiction of B.C. To talk about it or frame our reactions around doing that … would be inappropriate and unlawful.”
Instead, the New Democrats shifted to “defending B.C.’s coast through a variety of measures that were within our jurisdiction,” as if that, not stopping the project, was all they’d ever envisioned doing in the first place.
While Heyman and Horgan clammed up as regards to further references to stopping the project, it fell to Attorney General David Eby to make the legal situation explicit to project supporters and opponents alike. While the province had permitting power over many aspects of the project, it couldn’t unreasonably stall or reject any permits, said Eby.
To do so, would invite a lawsuit of ruinous proportions he explained. “We’ll end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars to an oil company that should be going to schools and hospitals.”
Nor did things go swimmingly for the New Democrats as they tried to challenge the project through the legitimate avenue of the courts. B.C. did manage to attain intervener status in the continuing legal proceedings against the pipeline, but only after a judge tossed out the broad constitutional and political issues the province had tried to raise in a last-minute submission.
“British Columbia does not appear to understand the basic ground rules of the complex proceeding it is seeking to enter,” ruled Justice David Stratas of the Federal Court of Appeal. “Larger political issues that do not bear on the legal issues are irrelevant and distracting, and thus, inadmissible.”
B.C. tried out another tool in early 2018 when Heyman announced the province would restrict increased shipments of bitumen from Alberta pending a scientific review. But when Alberta responded with a boycott of B.C. wine, Horgan walked back the threat.
Then came the reference case, where the New Democrats asked the courts if the province had jurisdiction to regulate increased shipments of bitumen by pipeline or rail.
Missing from the brief was any suggestion of regulating tankers. For all the campaign rhetoric about stopping increased tanker traffic, the New Democrats now conceded that B.C. has neither the jurisdiction nor the practical ability to regulate shipping.
Lest there be any doubt that the tool box was almost bereft, the proof came this spring on the opening day of court proceedings in the reference case.
“The purpose was never to prevent the construction or operation of the pipeline,” said government lawyer Joe Arvay. “The purpose and effect was always to protect the environment.”
But even that fallback position proved to be unsustainable, when the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled 5-0 that the federal jurisdiction should prevail.
Related
Thus the Horgan tool box turned out to be stocked with the kind of tools made by toymaker Fisher Price, not DeWalt of power-tool fame, quipped Rachel Notley, the former NDP premier of Alberta.
Still, few things in government are as inexhaustible as the ability to launch wave-after-wave of legal actions with public funds.
On Friday, the New Democrats filed an appeal against their latest setback with the Supreme Court of Canada. Under the rules regarding reference cases, the high court has to hear the case, perhaps later this year.
At this point, even the New Democrats can’t be giving themselves much of a chance to win. But they must be hoping for something better than a complete shutout among the nine justices on the high court.
Down to what appears to be the last tool in the tool box, the meter keeps running on the legal bills.
vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/vaughn-palmer-down-to-the-last-tool-in-the-tool-box-the-legal-bills-keep-climbing
Horgan continues to show the people of BC that he will do anything he can to appease his greenie cohorts even if it means spending millions of dollars on hopeless legal challenges. The real tool in this egregious waste of taxpayers money is the Premier of BC.
VICTORIA — With the federal government expected to have another go at green-lighting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, this is a good time to check whether the B.C. government has any tools left to stop it.
The promise to “use every tool in our tool box to stop the project from going ahead” was concocted by John Horgan and the New Democrats in advance of the last provincial election.
Never mind that the twinning of the line had already been approved by the National Energy Board and the federal cabinet.
But when asked how B.C. could override federal jurisdiction on an interprovincial infrastructure project, Horgan went all coy.
“There’s a whole host of other legal remedies available to us,” he told reporters in the closing days of the 2017 campaign.
Could he cite even one specific tool?
“I’m going to be discussing those with the prime minister the day after the election,” replied the soon-to-be-premier.
Perhaps Horgan had already checked with the legal and constitutional experts and discovered that in terms of stopping the project, the province didn’t have a legal leg to stand on.
Perhaps he hadn’t asked because he didn’t want the distraction of knowing the tool box was less well-stocked than, say, the home handyman section at his local Canadian Tire.
Either way, after Horgan attained the office of premier with the support of the Greens, the truth of the matter wasn’t long in smacking him in the face.
He was told even before he and his ministers took the oaths of office July 18: In terms of stopping the federally approved pipeline expansion, the province had no legal options. Period.
“When the premier offered me the position,” Environment Minister George Heyman later confided, “he was very clear that as part of transition, he had been given the legal advice that stopping the project was beyond the jurisdiction of B.C. To talk about it or frame our reactions around doing that … would be inappropriate and unlawful.”
Instead, the New Democrats shifted to “defending B.C.’s coast through a variety of measures that were within our jurisdiction,” as if that, not stopping the project, was all they’d ever envisioned doing in the first place.
While Heyman and Horgan clammed up as regards to further references to stopping the project, it fell to Attorney General David Eby to make the legal situation explicit to project supporters and opponents alike. While the province had permitting power over many aspects of the project, it couldn’t unreasonably stall or reject any permits, said Eby.
To do so, would invite a lawsuit of ruinous proportions he explained. “We’ll end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars to an oil company that should be going to schools and hospitals.”
Nor did things go swimmingly for the New Democrats as they tried to challenge the project through the legitimate avenue of the courts. B.C. did manage to attain intervener status in the continuing legal proceedings against the pipeline, but only after a judge tossed out the broad constitutional and political issues the province had tried to raise in a last-minute submission.
“British Columbia does not appear to understand the basic ground rules of the complex proceeding it is seeking to enter,” ruled Justice David Stratas of the Federal Court of Appeal. “Larger political issues that do not bear on the legal issues are irrelevant and distracting, and thus, inadmissible.”
B.C. tried out another tool in early 2018 when Heyman announced the province would restrict increased shipments of bitumen from Alberta pending a scientific review. But when Alberta responded with a boycott of B.C. wine, Horgan walked back the threat.
Then came the reference case, where the New Democrats asked the courts if the province had jurisdiction to regulate increased shipments of bitumen by pipeline or rail.
Missing from the brief was any suggestion of regulating tankers. For all the campaign rhetoric about stopping increased tanker traffic, the New Democrats now conceded that B.C. has neither the jurisdiction nor the practical ability to regulate shipping.
Lest there be any doubt that the tool box was almost bereft, the proof came this spring on the opening day of court proceedings in the reference case.
“The purpose was never to prevent the construction or operation of the pipeline,” said government lawyer Joe Arvay. “The purpose and effect was always to protect the environment.”
But even that fallback position proved to be unsustainable, when the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled 5-0 that the federal jurisdiction should prevail.
Related
Thus the Horgan tool box turned out to be stocked with the kind of tools made by toymaker Fisher Price, not DeWalt of power-tool fame, quipped Rachel Notley, the former NDP premier of Alberta.
Still, few things in government are as inexhaustible as the ability to launch wave-after-wave of legal actions with public funds.
On Friday, the New Democrats filed an appeal against their latest setback with the Supreme Court of Canada. Under the rules regarding reference cases, the high court has to hear the case, perhaps later this year.
At this point, even the New Democrats can’t be giving themselves much of a chance to win. But they must be hoping for something better than a complete shutout among the nine justices on the high court.
Down to what appears to be the last tool in the tool box, the meter keeps running on the legal bills.
vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/vaughn-palmer-down-to-the-last-tool-in-the-tool-box-the-legal-bills-keep-climbing
Horgan continues to show the people of BC that he will do anything he can to appease his greenie cohorts even if it means spending millions of dollars on hopeless legal challenges. The real tool in this egregious waste of taxpayers money is the Premier of BC.
If she has half a brain she knows which side her bread is buttered on! I'd bet she's just PRAYING that he can hang on!
Elizabeth May has responded to today's announcement regarding twinning the line. I need not mention which side of the controversy she is on. Suffice it say that I am sick and tired of hearing her whinge on about how poorly Canada is doing when it comes to 'fighting' climate change.
I like the woman. She is intelligent, well-spoken, in complete command of all the facts and never wavers in her quest for climate action. That said, I wish she would take her road show to someplace like............Russia?......China?..........India? Someplace where the purported crimes against the climate are so egregious as to make our contribution minuscule in comparison.
Fact is the little potato was absolutely right when he said Canada needs resource money - though using it exclusively to promote 'green measures' is beyond ridiculous as he would soon find out when wanting to toss millions of dollars around the world for whatever current cause catches his fancy. Without those resource dollars, he would soon run out of money to support social programs here at home, let alone elsewhere. Canada will need to rely on the money provided by resource extraction for the foreseeable future.
Those who are unable or unwilling to accept that fact need a good dose of reality.
Premier Tool here in BC got himself into a real bind with his refusal to allow twinning of the line - the jobs it will provide would help off-set those being lost in the forest industry which is in near collapse. Mill closures are happening daily. 100 Mile House got hit with a closure notice last week. Today I heard that the Chasm mill will also be shut-down. Those in addition to early closures in Vavenby, Quesnel and others in the province. 150 people are being laid off at the 100 Mile mill which is bad enough but the spin-off effects from the loss of those jobs will be much farther reaching. And that is just one town out of many.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sawmill-worker-transition-1.5167673
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/forestry-bc-mill-closures-continue-2019-1.5174921
I like the woman. She is intelligent, well-spoken, in complete command of all the facts and never wavers in her quest for climate action. That said, I wish she would take her road show to someplace like............Russia?......China?..........India? Someplace where the purported crimes against the climate are so egregious as to make our contribution minuscule in comparison.
Fact is the little potato was absolutely right when he said Canada needs resource money - though using it exclusively to promote 'green measures' is beyond ridiculous as he would soon find out when wanting to toss millions of dollars around the world for whatever current cause catches his fancy. Without those resource dollars, he would soon run out of money to support social programs here at home, let alone elsewhere. Canada will need to rely on the money provided by resource extraction for the foreseeable future.
Those who are unable or unwilling to accept that fact need a good dose of reality.
Premier Tool here in BC got himself into a real bind with his refusal to allow twinning of the line - the jobs it will provide would help off-set those being lost in the forest industry which is in near collapse. Mill closures are happening daily. 100 Mile House got hit with a closure notice last week. Today I heard that the Chasm mill will also be shut-down. Those in addition to early closures in Vavenby, Quesnel and others in the province. 150 people are being laid off at the 100 Mile mill which is bad enough but the spin-off effects from the loss of those jobs will be much farther reaching. And that is just one town out of many.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sawmill-worker-transition-1.5167673
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/forestry-bc-mill-closures-continue-2019-1.5174921
Last edited:
I don't know, pete. After listening to all the various politicians, ecofreaks, FNs against and political commentators today, I have little faith we will see 'shovels in the ground' anytime soon. I'm with Dec on this. All that really happened today was the first day of the fight against ever seeing the line built as more court cases are to be launched. Then there are the protests and the ensuing arrests by the 'Army' of RCMP - as the Tyee put it - quickly followed by yet more protests and more arrests.
I would not advise a trip to the Left Coast this summer - come to the Heartland where your tourist dollars will be very much appreciated.
I wonder if we can get a court order to prevent Horgan from wasting taxpayers money on fighting TM?
Oh pardon me, Breezy - it appears the term triggered you. I do apologize for causing you undue distress.
Let me rephrase. Intellectually challenged folks who totally don't get simple economics and would see the Left Coast become one big park even though it is already one of the largest clear-cuts in the province due to the constant pressure to expand.
At $1.40L in "normal BC" I'm going to SE BC. No further than half a tank away from the border with Alberta where it's around $1L.
Horgan's days are numbered, regardless of what he does now he will NOT see another term.
What will be the point if the tanker ban still passes? It doesn't look like that's going away anytime soon.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT A MAROON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You know- people WOULD TAKE YOU LIE-berals more seriously......................................
IF YOU ANSWERED QUESTIONS HONESTLY.....................
INSTEAD of avoiding the truth.............................................
by FOCUSING ON MY PUNCTUATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And HERE is an explanation of the DIRTY TRICKS that LIE-berals will be using to ENSURE...........................
that the pipeline they JUST "APPROVED"..........................
NEVER GETS BUILT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my- here is an article letting us know the LIE-berals have approved the Kinder Morgan pipeline- and then hitting us with THE BIG STALL!!
With some comments of my own in brackets):
Trans Mountain pipeline expansion gets green light to proceed
By Amanda Connolly, Global News.
Published June 18, 2019
A sign warning of an underground petroleum pipeline is seen on a fence at Kinder Morgan's facility where work is being conducted in preparation for the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, in Burnaby, B.C., on April 9, 2018.
(There is the FIRST Fake News- by all accounts NOTHING has been done on the pipeline since LIE-berals bought it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project is a go.
(And there is the SECOND PIECE of Fake News!! LIE-berals have imposed that pesky BAN on tanker traffic in the west coast so the pipe is currently a LINE TO NOWHERE UNLESS LIE-berals reverse themselves and REMOVE the tanker ban!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday afternoon that the federal cabinet has approved the expansion of the existing pipeline, which the government bought for $4.5 billion last year after regulatory and political uncertainty led Kinder Morgan to abandon the project.
The project will proceed under the TransMountain Corporation, the Crown corporation that will be responsible for securing the permits needed to move forward with construction, though the timeline is uncertain -- all existing approvals were quashed when the Federal Court issued an injunction last summer.
(AND RIGHT THERE is the BIG STALL!! There are NO PERMITS IN PLACE!! ALL PREVIOUS permits have either expired or BEEN CANCELLED due to court decisions!! NOR HAVE THERE BEEN ANY MEANINGFUL or successful NEGOTIATIONS with the protestors!! In addition LIE-berals have put in place such rigorous new laws that it will be virtually IMPOSSIBLE to get Kinder Morgan restarted- UNLESS LIE-berals reverse themselves yet again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
“It's likely there will be challenges," officials acknowledged during a technical briefing on the decision on Tuesday.
(Yes- I am sure it is GUARANTEED there will be “challenges”!! With LIE-berals COMPELLING tax payers to foot the bills for lawyers to form a costly pipeline debating society for a pipeline that will NEVER BE BUILT -if LIE-berals have their way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Officials say the situation is "unprecedented" but that there will be shovels in the ground this year along parts of the route.
(In my opinion any claim of real progress on the pipe this year is a lie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Among the permits the corporation still needs to secure are: approvals from the National Energy Board to authorize construction, authorizations under the Fisheries Act, permits under the Species at Risk Act, approval under the Indian Act, authorization under the Canadian Transportation Act, and approval and licensing under the Explosives Act.
(In other words the number of hoops to be jumped through is HUGE- with the added obstacle that Parliament is about to SHUT DOWN for the coming election!)
The approval suggests that the government believes it has met the criteria laid out by a Federal Court judge last year in a ruling that slapped an injunction on the construction, which had only just begun.
(Uh huh- and Our idiot Boy will let the “consultations and negotiations” drag on till Our idiot Boy has reached HIS “GOLDEN YEARS”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
It also means the government is confident the court will deem it has done adequate consultations with Indigenous stakeholders and also taken measures to mitigate the marine impact of the expansion if the approval is challenged in court.
(There is ANOTHER LIE!! LIE-berals have not gotten a single native protest group to sign on- ALL the original protestors are still in place -facing a LIE-beral govt that DESPERATELY NEEDS those protestor votes to survive after October!)
Marine tanker traffic will triple as more vessels arrive at the Burnaby terminal, the end point of the expansion, to load crude oil destined for overseas markets.
(So WHY would Our idiot Boy- the master of BULLSH+T approve a pipeline that HE DOES NOT WANT because it will ONLY serve an industry he despises!! Those who recall an election is coming will UNDERSTAND that Our idiot Boy is trying to make a temporary FAKE PEACE with western Canada - until AFTER the election!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(In related news- Our idiot Boy supported by Climate Barbie- our environment minister- have just declared a “climate emergency” which will very likely give them the powers they need to “QUELL the emergency” by killing Kinder Morgan- AFTER the election - in hope of “saving the environment” for GAS GUZZLING LIE-berals and their civil service union HOG allies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(This is the GREAT ROTTEN HEART of LIE-beral policy - that LIE-berals and their HOG allies have some of the BIGGEST carbon foot prints in all of Canada!!!
LIE-berals are only interested in saving THEIR PERSONAL environment!! The rest of us can freeze in the dark for all they care!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(If Our idiot Boy wins the election - then Kinder Morgan will NEVER BE BUILT!! If idiot Boy loses then look for a MASSIVE WAVE of endless protests by radical LIE-beral supporters to obstruct FOR EVER AND EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Earlier this year, the government delayed its approval of the pipeline after it did not complete its renewed consultations with Indigenous communities along the pipeline route in time to meet the deadline for cabinet approval of the project.
(LIE-berals are now making noises about selling Kinder Morgan to native groups- meaning EVEN MORE Negotiations!! But this time it will be like Alice in Wonderland talking to the Mad Hatter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(N\tive groups are DEAD BROKE - so can buy nothing!! Natives have NO expertise or experience handling an oil pipeline- so SCREW UPS ARE inevitable if they get their hands on Kinder Morgan!! And it will be Cdn tax payers who will get ALL the bills for native screw ups!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(UNLESS LIE-berals are planning to arrange a FAKE ownership in which natives “own the pipe” and collect the EXPECTED HUGE REVENUES from its operation- while a shadow group of white men- employed by govt does the actual daily operations work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(And we should ask -just how much use will be made of the pipe if natives milk the thing with huge fees like vampires sucking blood?? Will LIE-berals CARE if native HOGS bleed the pipeline dry and into bankruptcy?? After all - LIE-berals OPPOSE the pipeline! It has ONLY been “approved” CONDITIONALLY for now- to COVER LIE-beral backsides!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Following the ruling from the Federal Court, the government restarted consultations with 117 Indigenous stakeholders but refused to set a public timeline for when those talks would wrap up.
(If LIE-berals have their way- the “negotiations” with the natives will take so long and cost so much that Kinder Morgan will never be built!!! LIE-berals have been in “negotiations” for land claims with Lubicon natives since about 1968!! We will be very fortunate if LIE-berals work half so swiftly on Kinder Morgan!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Crude by rail a ‘temporary’ solution to pipeline shortage: CN Rail CEO
(Yes- and experiments are under way to form crude oil into ”no spill” sort of hockey pucks that can be shipped by rail VERY NEATLY!! If the experiments are successful then Kinder Morgan will not be needed - and LIE-berals will need yet another stalling tactic to kill the Alberta oil patch- but that is a LIE-beral headache for AFTER the election!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
The approval marks the culmination of a balancing act for the government as it heads into a campaign season where it will be forced onto the defensive, both from progressives over whether its environmental regulations have done enough to tackle climate change, and from conservatives over whether its economic challenges have put the average Canadian in a strong position.
(LIE-berals are widely recognized as having DONE NOTHING about climate change- EXCEPT ENACT A TAX GRAB of grotesque proportions with their carbon crap and trade SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Much of that will likely boil down to what extent voters are feeling secure in their own economic prospects, and affordability issues like the price of gas and home heating are likely to factor into those feelings even as the government continues to tout strong, big picture fiscal numbers.
(Uh huh- and 67 percent of Cdns see their economic future getting VERY CLOUDY- the Sunny Ways ARE GONE!! As for the other 33 percent of Cdns who do not see the dark clouds- they all work for one of our FOUR levels of govt and the govt gravy train is STILL VERY COMFY!! The Hogs have every reason to promote the LIE-beral fantasy that our grossly indebted economy is somehow magically “booming” as it plunges headlong into RECORD DEBT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Hey JLM..............................................
IF YOU EVER come up with an HONEST FACT.................................................
I WOULD BE INTERESTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sadly the LIE-beral policy DRIVEL you spew........................................................
DOES NOT COUNT AS FACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just because a thing would be convenient for you....................................
DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And hey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU ARE STILL AVOIDING MY TWO QUESTIONS about immigration!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And since immigration issues are at the heart of much LIE-beral trouble......................................
your AVOIDANCE of this issue marks you as
CHICKENSH+T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!