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.
Before Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister, energy projects were built without taxpayer support. Now he would have us believe that it is the only way for them to go forward. That is a terrible indictment of his own record. 7/7
— Andrew Scheer (@AndrewScheer) April 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/985649128842477568
If only there were precedents for federal governments before Justin Trudeau was Prime Minister offering fiscal frameworks for pipeline projects with significant risks https://t.co/i0wUha5SaQ https://t.co/oEQu5EeJ5H
— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) April 16, 2018
Actually, shortly before Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister, the federal government provided loan guarantees to an interprovincial energy project… https://t.co/zZTBpA0Uxi
Who was Prime Minister in 2014 again? #cdnpoli https://t.co/oEQu5EeJ5H— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) April 16, 2018
As @andrew_leach has noted, this is just comically wrong. Suncor and Syncrude were all but Crown corps for the first 20 years of their existence. Tax codes were rewritten for them. Scheer's own government spent hundreds of millions on PR for the industry https://t.co/zA9CZlSCjD
— Chris Turner (@theturner) April 16, 2018
When it comes to Syncrude I’d say this was if anything understating the matter… https://t.co/lZxMTpyqxh
— Colby Cosh (@colbycosh) April 16, 2018
Not just government funding, an actual provincial Crown corporation, AOSTRA
— Chris Turner (@theturner) April 16, 2018
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.
Help Routine Proceedings expand. Support my Patreon.