Canada is still talking toKinder Morgan Canada Ltd about financial aid for apipeline, Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said on Thursday,a day after the company said such help might not be enough.
The chairman of parent company Kinder Morgan Inc said the offer would not help resolve resistance in the Pacificprovince of British Columbia, where the government opposes plansto almost triple the capacity of an oil pipeline from Alberta tothe west coast. Asked for his reaction to the comments, Carr told reportersthat Ottawa was talking to the company. "So really nothing has changed … They are still interestedin having conversations with the government," he said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, citing the need to assuageinvestors worried about putting money into the energy sector,said last Sunday he had asked his finance minister to open talkswith Kinder Morgan Canada about possible aid for the C$7.4billion ($5.8 billion) project. Trudeau, in London for an official visit, told reporters onThursday that "we will ensure that this pipeline gets built." Trudeau insists his Liberal government has jurisdiction overthe pipeline but British Columbia – concerned about the risks ofa spill – is seeking to delay and possibly kill the project bygoing to court. Kinder Morgan Canada says it will walk away from the projecton May 31 unless Ottawa acts to end the uncertainty over theproject, which is also opposed by environmentalists andaboriginal activists. "We know that the May 31 deadline is real … They arefeeling the pressure from their investors because ofuncertainty," said Carr. Asked whether he was concerned that the federal government'sefforts to keep the project alive would fail, he replied: "It'shard to predict the future in pipeline politics." Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said late on Wednesday that"the message we're getting back (from the company) is that theyare pleased with the high level of engagement that is happeningbetween both us and the federal government." Notley strongly backs the pipeline and has threatened to cutoff oil supplies to British Columbia. (Reporting by David Ljunggren;With additional reporting by William James in London, JulieGordon in Vancouver and Leah Schnurr in OttawaEditing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker)