In a new hard-hitting Council of Canadians report, economics and pipeline expert Gordon Laxer reveals special provisions in the new trade deal that will allow the federal government to continue to subsidize the Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline.
The Trudeau government is expected to announce its decision on the pipeline’s future next week.
This pipeline, which will ensure expansion of the climate-polluting tar sands in Alberta, will not only send crude to export on fragile coastal B.C. shores, it will put thousands of waterways, communities and drinking water sources at risk along its route. Forests and lands will be bulldozed and razed to build some of it – even through First Nations where Indigenous peoples have said “no.”
As Laxer reveals in the Billion Dollar Buyout report, you and I will be on the hook for paying for all of it. Costs for the pipeline are expected to soar as high as $10 billion. Read his recent Toronto Star op-ed on this and hear from him directly in an upcoming webinar on June 26 at 5:30 p.m. EST (Online registration now open.)
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and his “energy war room” are now waging a full-scale public relations attack to push the Trudeau government into approving the pipeline. Last week, the ultra-Conservative Kenney government launched multi-million dollar ad campaigns in B.C. and Ottawa with incorrect and misleading statements on pipeline jobs and resource extraction.
The Conservatives want you to believe the Trans Mountain pipeline project is in the “national interest.”
Ironically, this week Kenney’s federal Conservative counterpart, Andrew Scheer, lambasted the Trudeau government for falling behind on Canada’s climate commitments. This is the same Conservative Party that wants to reverse federal programs to address climate change and also supports building the Trans Mountain pipeline. Scheer even said he would invoke constitutional powers to make the pipeline project happen.
You and I know the Conservatives can’t have it both ways.
The Trans Mountain project would add 13 to 15 megatonnes of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, which would be like adding almost 3.8 million cars on the road. This will make it impossible for us to meet our climate targets at a time when the world’s leading scientists say we have to act urgently and immediately to avert global disaster.
The battle lines are clearly being drawn.
Will the Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion of the tar sands – Canada’s leading source of greenhouse gas emissions – get the green light at the expense and peril of communities, coastal shorelines, water and Indigenous peoples?
Or will our government start on a path to a better future for our planet?
We are all watching.
