Trans Mountain buyout is 'in the national interest,' says environment parliamentary secretary

The purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline is "in the national interest" and "very sensitive to environmental concerns," Liberal MP Jonathan Wilkinson told Cross Country Checkup host Duncan McCue on Sunday.

Wilkinson, Parliamentary Secretary to Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, told Checkup that the plan to purchase the pipeline will not interfere with Canada's commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

When asked about the lawsuits numerous Indigenous groups have launched against Kinder Morgan, Wilkinson said the federal government consulted Indigenous communities "and the consultations that went on through this process were the most exhaustive in Canadian history."

Checkup requested interviews from Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Natural Resource Minister Jim Carr and Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna, but none were available.

Here's part of Wilkinson's conversation with McCue.

Your riding's in North Vancouver. I'm curious to know what you've been hearing from your constituents since this decision was announced.

This project has been the subject of lots of conversation for the past two years as you would understand. And certainly there are people who have differing perspectives on the project itself.

With respect to the government's decision to step in to take on the project itself, at least for the short term, I would just tell you that people who had made their minds up that they were opposed to the project remain opposed.

Those that were in favour of the project remain in favour and the group of folks in the middle that have been looking to see that their concerns were addressed and thoughtful in substantial ways, I think have questions that understandably need to be addressed.

But generally, when we explain to them the reasons and the rationale behind it, I think they're generally supportive.

The upfront cost to taxpayers is $4.5 billion dollars with completion costs estimated at a lot more than that.… If a private energy company, like Kinder Morgan, thinks this project is too risky, why should Canadians pay for it?

If you look at what happened here, this project was approved by the federal government 18 months ago after a long review and a number of additional steps that were implemented post the 2015 election. It was approved by the province 18 months ago after it did its own environmental assessment on the basis of those project approvals.

The proponents spent a billion dollars on the project and what changed was [B.C.] Premier John Horgan being elected and deciding that he was going to look to change the rules of the game after the game was over, and what he did was deliberately try to inject political risk into a project that was already underway.

It is very understandable that a private sector proponent cannot bear the kind of political risk that the British Columbia government deliberately injected into the process after the process had been completed and so it was not surprising that Kinder Morgan looked to find ways to ensure that that risk could be addressed.

It was an irresponsible set of behaviours by the provincial government and the federal government said this project is in the national interest.

It is in significant economic benefit overall to the country. It fits with respect to some of the concerns that people have addressed have talked about with respect to Canada's commitment to Paris under climate change.

It fits in the context of an oceans protection plan that will make sure that all large scale shipping through the Vancouver harbour is actually safer going forward than it ever has been. And on that basis the federal government said this project needs to proceed and we need to do whatever needs to be done to ensure that's the case.

You mentioned the concerns of the province of British Columbia and the lawsuit that they'll be bringing. There are over a dozen lawsuits against Kinder Morgan in British Columbia and the pipeline including from Indigenous groups that are still undecided.

Does the government have any more legal leverage in overcoming court challenges than a private company would?

Well, with respect to the lawsuits that have been launched by Indigenous communities, I would say no. Those are really around the issue of consultation and has the crown fully discharged its obligation to consult. The federal government believes that it has done so and the consultations that went on through this process were the most exhaustive in Canadian history. But obviously the courts will need to opine on that.

With respect to the lawsuit that has been brought forward by the province: our view has always been that it was quite clear that it was federal jurisdiction, but I think that this project moving forward under the aegis of a Crown corporation certainly makes that even stronger.

Earlier on in the show you may have heard Tzeporah Berman was on, she said even with the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, Canada is way off target to meet our commitments to the Paris Agreement. She posed this question: How serious is the Trudeau government about climate change?

It's very serious and with due respect to Ms. Berman, she's simply wrong.

This government is committed to achieving its obligations under the Paris Agreement. It has developed with the provinces and territories the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change which has started to change the trajectory of Canada's emissions.

And we are fully committed to achieving the Paris Agreement which is focused on 2030, but also then starting the conversation around how we go beyond Paris to much fuller decarbonisation in the 2050 and 2060 timeframe.

Written by Caro Rolando. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.