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Environment Minister Shannon Phillips weighs in on Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion battle

Feb 26, 2018 | 6:18 AM

LETHBRIDGE – Despite Alberta Premier Rachel Notley ending the three-week ban on wine from British Columbia, the battle between the two provinces over the Trans Mountain pipeline is far from over.

Notley lifted the ban after B.C. Premier John Horgan announced his government was reversing its plan to suspend taking additional oil from Alberta until it was sure B.C.’s coastline and waterways were safe from catastrophic oil spills on Thursday, Feb. 22.

Provincial Environment Minister, and Lethbridge-West MLA, Shannon Phillips says the province will remain vigilant when it comes to dealing with B.C. over the pipeline.

“We have said all along that this pipeline will get built because while B.C. has said they are going to look at all their tools in the tool box, that tool box is essentially empty,” Phillips said.

B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver, a major player in his province’s coalition government, said on Sunday, Feb. 25, that his province isn’t backing down from the bigger fight to stop the pipeline from being built.

That, on top of Horgan saying he will go to the courts to get a legal ruling on whether B.C. has a right to attempt to stop the pipeline expansion under the Constitution.

Phillips says she wishes the B.C. government well on that, but added any reasonable person knows that this reference question is very likely to fail.

“It’s one way, I guess, for Premier Horgan to ensure he is better controlling his environment minister who put forward this ridiculous proposal in the first place,” Phillips stated.

Phillips says it’s difficult to send messages to B.C. outside of the aforementioned wine ban, because from the Alberta government’s point of view they don’t want to imperil the economy and jobs.

“The provincial economies are so tied together that B.C.’s actions in this case also harmed its own residents,” she continued. “When Horgan allows his environment minister to frustrate Alberta’s economic recovery, they’re also going straight to the heart of thousands of British Columbians who work in Alberta’s oil industry, or somehow are supported by Alberta’s oil industry.”

The economic part of the equation here is a sticking point for Phillips as well, calling the moves by B.C. short-sighted.

“For the NDP government in B.C. to go down this path, and to undermine their own economic security and jobs there as well as here in Alberta, when the majority of British Columbians support this pipeline is nothing more than short-sighted,” Phillips added

It’s not just the economic impact this issue between the two provinces is having in Canada either, as Phillips also touched on how the country is losing revenue to the United States.

“The longer this goes on, we’re forgoing billions of dollars in lost revenue. Lost revenue that’s being realized south of the border,” Phillips said.

“We’re sending those profits to Trump’s United States rather than ensuring that those economic benefits stay here if we have access to the coast for our energy products,” Phillips continued. “It’s a completely nonsensical way to run a country, and that’s why Prime Minister Trudeau determined that this pipeline was in the national interest.”