Premier Brad Wall held nothing back in voicing dismay over TransCanada Corp.’s decision to cancel the Energy East pipeline project.
“Today is not a good day for Canada. It is not a good day for the federation. It is a very bad day for the west,” said Wall in a strongly worded statement released Thursday.
The premier’s statement was issued after TransCanada announced it would no longer be proceeding with its Energy East and Eastern Mainline projects. According to a statement by their CEO Russ Girling, the decision came “after careful review of changed circumstances.”
However, Premier Wall made clear that he held the prime minister ultimately responsible.
“TransCanada made the decision to cancel Energy East – but make no mistake, the reasons for it fall at the feet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government,” Wall said. “They have been, at best, ambivalent about the project and then moved the goalposts at the last moment by asking the regulator to consider the impact of upstream greenhouse gas emissions.”
Wall also had harsh words as well for Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, a vocal opponent of Energy East.
“It is a good thing that Mr. Coderre’s hypocrisy needs no pipeline for conveyance, for it would need to be very large and could never get approved for construction.”
In addition to the pipeline, the premier’s statement condemned the federal Liberals’ carbon tax, as well as their proposed tax changes to small business.
He said the Trudeau government’s actions “may well have some westerners wondering if this country really values western Canada, the resources we have, and the things we do to contribute to the national economy and to quality of life for all.”
In her response, NDP opposition leader Nicole Sarauer also expressed disappointment with the decision to terminate Energy East, a project her party had “long supported” as “part of a balanced approach to grow the Saskatchewan economy.”
But instead of targeting the Prime Minister, the interim NDP leader directed her blame at the premier.
“Once again, the Sask. Party has proven that their unbalanced approach, rhetoric, and grandstanding have failed to get pipelines to tidewater built and hurt the Saskatchewan economy at a time when 40,000 people in the province are unemployed and looking for work,” Sarauer said in a news release.
Sarauer added that “the people of Saskatchewan as well as those who invest in our natural resources and our energy economy need a government that will put the bluster aside and, instead, provide clarity, long-term planning, and a responsible plan to protect the air we breathe, water we drink, and the land we live on.”
The statement in full by Premier Brad Wall reads as follows:
Today is not a good day for Canada. It is not a good day for the federation. It is a very bad day for the west.
TransCanada made the decision to cancel Energy East – but make no mistake, the reasons for it fall at the feet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government. They have been, at best, ambivalent about the project and then moved the goalposts at the last moment by asking the regulator to consider the impact of upstream greenhouse gas emissions.
Imagine if something like this was considered prior to the construction of auto assembly plants in Ontario or the factories that manufacture heavily subsidized jets in Quebec or the highways and rails that transport those products.
Former federal Liberal Cabinet Minister, and now Montreal Mayor, Denis Coderre cheers the cancellation of this pipeline. He who leads a city that, just two years ago, used a pipeline to dump 4.9 BILLION litres, or nearly 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence Seaway.
It is a good thing that Mr. Coderre’s hypocrisy needs no pipeline for conveyance, for it would need to be very large and could never get approved for construction.
When Coderre cheers for the end of this pipeline, he cheers for the imported oil we buy from Saudi Arabia, where women can now drive, but the public beheadings continue.
He is cheering against an energy sector in our country that employs thousands and has paid, on average, over the last three years $17 billion annually in taxes and royalties to Canadian governments.
$17 billion is enough to pay for 680 new schools, 1.8 million knee replacements and 4.25 million child care spaces. We have lost an opportunity to strengthen quality of life in Canada.
Beyond the immediate impact, there are other reasons to be concerned.
A new Liberal carbon tax, new Liberal tax changes for small business (that will hurt many in the energy sector and farmers), changes to the NEB applied only to this sector and not to others, and methane regulations that will not be mirrored south of the border, with whom we must compete for job creating investment dollars.
We have a company that committed more than a billion dollars to a project and made earnest efforts to address the concerns of the public and regulators. A company that made 700 changes to its plans as part of that response. Make no mistake, other companies' decisions to invest in Canada will be informed by this debacle.
The expectation of course from the federal government, and some powerful central Canadian interests, is that the west will just grin and bear this latest blow to our economy and our people.
That our taxpayers in Saskatchewan and Alberta will continue to send, without question, about $2.5 billion in equalization payments to help support Quebec that receives $11 billion in equalization per year and $1.4 billion to Ontario. All of this despite the fact that low energy prices have resulted in job losses and lower revenues for the last four years.
Something needs to change. For the west to continue on like this in our federal system is the equivalent of having Stockholm syndrome.
The decision by TransCanada to cancel the Energy East project was made because of a lack of interest and leadership – or worse, intentional decisions and policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government. He should answer for this. He needs to be held accountable for this.
His actions and his government's actions may well have some westerners wondering if this country really values western Canada, the resources we have, and the things we do to contribute to the national economy and to quality of life for all.
