OTTAWA – Justin Trudeau says his government remains committed to getting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion built and also to its national climate-change plan — both of which were put in jeopardy by a court ruling that overturned federal approval for the project.
The prime minister says the government will move forward to get the project built “in the right way” by acknowledging the court’s criticism of the flawed environmental review process and the failure to meaningfully consult with Indigenous Peoples.
Thursday’s court ruling prompted Alberta Premier Rachel Notley to announce that her province is withdrawing from the national climate change plan and will stay out until the federal government gets its act together, as she put it.
While he’d prefer to work collaboratively with provinces on climate change, Trudeau says Notley’s move doesn’t change anything for the federal government.
He says the federal government remains committed to imposing a carbon price on provinces that do not implement their own polluter-pay scheme — including Alberta if need be.
But he says Alberta’s own climate change plan remains in place, which means its carbon pricing regime will be in sync with the federal government’s for the next few years.
