Trans Mountain – mackaycartoons

Saturday September 1, 2018

August 31, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 1, 2018

Pipeline ruling comes at bad time for Trudeau Liberals

April 11, 2018

For Justin Trudeau’s governing Liberals, the timing couldn’t have been worse. On Thursday, as Canadian negotiators in Washington were struggling to salvage whatever they could from the floundering NAFTA talks, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled against the government’s signature Trans Mountain Pipeline project.

Both the North American Free Trade Agreement fiasco and the pipeline decision strike at the heart of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s economic strategy. That strategy relies on free trade deals and oil exports to keep the economy humming while the government concentrates on its ambitious social policy agenda, such as bettering the lot of Indigenous Canadians.

Of the trade deals, the NAFTA pact tying together Canada, the U.S. and Mexico was the most crucial. Similarly, of the pipeline projects, none was more important to the federal government than the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain expansion. It would bring heavy oil from the Alberta tarsands to British Columbia’s Pacific coast, where it could be loaded into oceangoing tankers.

Indeed, the Trudeau government deemed the Trans Mountain Pipeline so important that it agreed to buy it for $4.5 billion from its U.S. owner and pay all the costs of expanding it. This no longer seems like such a good deal.

The Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the government’s National Energy Board failed to take into account the effect of increased tanker traffic on B.C. coastal communities. It also ruled that the government failed to adequately consult Indigenous communities affected by the pipeline. It said construction cannot continue until these two defects are remedied. (Continued: Toronto Star)

Friday May 18, 2018

May 17, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 18, 2018

Morneau says government willing to compensate Kinder Morgan against political delays

Canada is willing to write Kinder Morgan — or anyone else who steps up to the plate — a cheque to ensure the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion gets built despite British Columbia’s opposition, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Wednesday.

Morneau said the federal government is willing to compensate the pipeline’s backers for any financial loss due to British Columbia’s attempts to obstruct the company’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

“The indemnification would allow Kinder Morgan to finish what they started, what they received federal and B.C. approval to do,” he said Wednesday morning during a news conference that laid out in broad terms what his government is willing to do to move the project ahead.

Morneau’s statement came just hours before Kinder Morgan Canada’s stakeholders met in Calgary, and offers the company an incentive to proceed with the project just weeks ahead of its potential drop-dead date. Kinder Morgan has threatened to abandon the project if a clear path forward isn’t reached by May 31.

“As a government we need to ensure that the rule of law is respected and that investors have the certainty needed to complete the Trans Mountain expansion project, because it’s in the national interest to do so,” Morneau said.

Morneau said that if Kinder Morgan bails on the project, the government would reimburse any financial losses related to B.C.’s political opposition incurred by any other investor willing to take the project on — as long as reimbursement is “sound and fair and beneficial for Canadians.”

Morneau wouldn’t say if there’s a limit to how much the government is willing to spend to compensate the pipeline’s backer. (Source: CBC)

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Wednesday April 11, 2018

April 10, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 11, 2018

Kinder’s Pipeline Pause Puts Pressure on Trudeau to Act, Somehow

Justin Trudeau has a lot riding on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. But the Canadian prime minister has few viable options to save it.

June 27, 2013

Kinder Morgan Inc. halted most work on the project Sunday, ramping up pressure on the federal government to somehow deter provincial opposition and protests from environmentalists before a May 31 deadline. Trudeau’s energy strategy is at stake, along with overall business confidence and the price of Canadian oil landlocked in neighboring Alberta.

His problem is that opposition from British Columbia has been mostly talk, leaving Trudeau essentially in a war of words that’s been enough for the Houston-based company to warn the uncertainty has become too great. Trudeau’s team backs the pipeline and flatly promises it will be built, though with the project already approved its options are few beyond trying to cajole the Pacific coast province.

June 8, 2017

“The consequence of their indirection has created a problem of certainty for the proponent. That problem is real,” Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said Monday in an interview at his Ottawa office. “We will look at every option available to the government of Canada — financial, regulatory, legal.”

Shares of Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. fell 13 percent Monday, the biggest decline since its initial public offering last May.

While cross-border pipelines are under federal jurisdiction, provinces have asserted themselves in recent years, muddying the outlook and allowing new challenges to pop up. In this case, British Columbia’s New Democratic Party government — whose razor-thin command of the provincial legislature relies on support of Green Party lawmakers — has dug in its heels. (Source: Bloomberg)

Published in the Western Star, Corner Brook, Newfoundland

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Thursday June 8, 2017

June 7, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 8, 2017

Personality politics emerge as pipeline dispute pits Alberta against B.C.

British Columbia NDP Leader John Horgan and Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver were clearly on a roll last week at a celebratory news conference that formalized what they promised would be a four-year collaboration.

May 31, 2017

And it was the tag-team response to questions about the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion that most revealed how Horgan and Weaver might handle the political problem with Alberta and fellow NDP Premier Rachel Notley.

“I haven’t spoken to Rachel directly,” said Horgan, whose past dealings with the Alberta premier put the two on a first name basis.

Horgan said the Alberta premier, who is pushing hard for Kinder Morgan, is rightly waiting until the new government in B.C. is in place before reaching out.

“When that happens, we’ll have that conversation,” he said.

December 1, 2016

It was all very nice. But the gentle tone and tenor didn’t last very long.

For her part, Notley spent a good deal of time challenging the premise that a Green/NDP government in B.C. can stop the pipeline.

On Tuesday, the Alberta premier vowed at a news conference: “Mark my words, that pipeline will be built, the decisions have been made.”

When a reporter asked later that day about Notley’s pronouncement, Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver laughed out loud as Horgan lobbed the hot potato his way. (Source: CBC News)

Thursday December 1, 2016

November 30, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 1, 2016

Liberals face flood of outrage in B.C. after approval of Trans Mountain pipeline

The federal cabinet’s decision to approve Kinder Morgan Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has prompted a flood of outrage and promises of protests, court challenges and civil disobedience in British Columbia.

October 13, 2016

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said he was “profoundly disappointed,” calling the decision a “big step backwards” for Canada’s environment and economy.

“I — along with the tens of thousands of residents, local First Nations, and other Metro Vancouver cities who told the federal government a resounding ‘no’ to this project — will keep speaking out against this pipeline expansion that doesn’t make sense for our economic or environmental future.”

September 26, 2015

The $6.8-billion project would triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline, from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels a day, and would add 980 kilometres of new pipe along the route from near Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C.

It would also increase the number of tankers leaving Vancouver-area waters seven-fold, from five to 34 per month, prompting fierce opposition from local mayors and First Nations who say any risk of a diluted-bitumen spill is unacceptable.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the project would be approved with 157 conditions at a news conference Tuesday. He said he expects the decision to be “bitterly disputed” by a number of people across the country, but said the project is in Canada’s best interests. (Source: Toronto Star)