EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and her New Brunswick counterpart Brian Gallant say they’re hoping for a renewed push to get the Energy East pipeline built under incoming prime minister Justin Trudeau.
But both agreed specific steps to reduce climate change must work alongside the proposed $12-billion TransCanada line.
Gallant said the record of outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper is testament to why fixing climate change is not only good policy but also good business.
“Under the Harper government, no pipelines for oil were built,” Gallant, standing beside Notley, told reporters Thursday at a legislature news conference.
“I believe that one of the reasons for that is because the international community and even Canadians did not feel like the Harper government was doing enough when it came to protecting the environment and combating climate change.
“I’m very hopeful that with the Trudeau government that we’re going to be able to build that brand internationally and gain the trust of Canadians that we can develop our natural resources and energy projects in a responsible and a sustainable way.”
The Energy East line would take oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan across the country to refineries and ports in the East, including New Brunswick.
Notley agreed that Alberta and New Brunswick are the “bookends” on the project.
“You can see Alberta as the push and New Brunswick as the pull in terms of getting that pipeline approved,” she said.
Both Gallant and Notley hope to go “to all parts of Canada to talk about the benefits of this pipeline to not just Alberta and New Brunswick but frankly to all Canadians and to talk about the import of our energy industry to the Canadian economy,” Notley said.