OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is paying a visit to the Trans Mountain pipeline terminal in Edmonton this morning.
It has been almost a month since Trudeau gave a second go-ahead to expanding the pipeline, after the courts overturned his government’s original approval.
Trudeau and Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi — who represents a nearby Edmonton riding — will meet with workers at the terminal, which is the start of the pipeline that carries Alberta oil to a terminal in Burnaby, B.C.
The Liberal government spent $4.5 billion to buy the pipeline from Kinder Morgan Canada in 2018 in a bid to get the existing pipeline expanded despite significant political opposition in British Columbia.
That plan hit the rocks in August 2018 when the Federal Court of Appeal said the government had not done a good enough job with either consultations with Indigenous communities or environmental reviews.
Six British Columbia First Nations and at least two environment groups have filed new court challenges to the approval.