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Pipeline pronouncement: Liberals to pass judgment on Line 3, Northern Gateway

November 29, 2016 12:19 PM
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – The federal government says a news conference will take place today in Ottawa after markets close in order to announce the fate of at least two major pipeline proposals.

The news conference is scheduled to take place at 4:30 p.m. ET with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau’s Liberal government had promised decisions on two Enbridge projects by last Friday, but delayed the announcement until after cabinet met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the capital this morning.

The stalled Northern Gateway oil pipeline from Alberta through the Great Bear Rain Forest to Kitimat, B.C., has so far been thwarted in the courts for lack of proper indigenous consultation.

A less prominent Enbridge project would see the half-century-old Line 3 pipeline from Alberta through southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the United States replaced by an entirely new line about twice the current pipeline’s capacity.

The Liberals are also mulling over Kinder Morgan’s controversial bid to triple the capacity of its Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta to the port in Burnaby, B.C., a ruling that must come no later than Dec. 19.

Trudeau also confirmed today that he’ll be holding a meeting with provincial and territorial premiers as well as indigenous leaders on Dec. 9 in Ottawa, where climate policy will be the main focus of the agenda.

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