Roundup: A big meeting, no big answers

Yesterday saw the big meeting between Justin Trudeau and premiers Rachel Notley and John Horgan on the subject of the Trans Mountain expansion, and what was supposed to be a 35-minute tête-à-tête turned into over 90. We didn’t get specifics out of the meeting, but we got some clues, in particular that Horgan is pointing to deficiencies in the government’s ocean protections plan, while Trudeau and Notley will be in discussion with Kinder Morgan about a possible stake in the project to help with risk mitigation, and to get the ball rolling before construction season. Trudeau also noted some kind of upcoming legislation to reiterate federal jurisdiction over the project, but one hopes that they don’t try to declare this under Section 92(10)(c) of the Constitution, because it’s already federal jurisdiction and invoking that when the jurisprudence is already settled would introduce doubt that doesn’t actually exist – no matter what Horgan seems to imply.

And then comes along Andrew Scheer, who demonstrates either a wilful ignorance of history, or a willingness to again demonstrate that he is a fabulist – or possibly a combination of the two. Regardless, his particular assertions about the history of government investment in energy projects is woefully mistaken and wrong.

https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/985649128842477568

Meanwhile, Susan Delacourt looks at how the meeting de-escalated the tensions somewhat, while Paul Wells reads everyone’s positions, and wonders if the government’s plans actually address Kinder Morgan’s concerns. Also, here’s a reminder about the last time a BC premier tried to intrude on federal jurisdiction and got slapped down hard by the federal government.

Good reads:

  • Trudeau is now in Paris, where he will give an address to France’s National Assembly.
  • Before departing, Trudeau said that Canada had been notified about the Syrian strikes before they happened but was not asked to participate.
  • From the Summit of the Americas, Mike Pence said that a renegotiated NAFTA is possible within the coming weeks.
  • Remember when Scheer and the Conservatives claimed that the Indians were cancelling bilateral meetings post-Atwal Affair™? That was false.
  • My weekend column took a look at how very self-serving Senator Peter Harder’s 51-page position paper on the role of the Senate really is.

Odds and ends:

Here’s the interesting tale of an Ottawa IT consultant who tracks ships and planes – largely military – around the world, in the name of transparency.

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