The House

B.C. not backing down from pipeline fight, Green leader says

No amount of incentives will coerce the British Columbian government to back down from their fight against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, according to the Green party leader.

Provincial officials reject idea of incentives from federal government

Dr. Andrew Weaver is the leader of the Green Party of British Columbia. (Mike McArthur/CBC)

No amount of incentives will coerce the British Columbian government to back down from their fight against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, according to the Green party leader.

Andrew Weaver told The House the response from the federal government isn't doing much to fix the fundamental issue with the project: it's bad for the environment.

"British Columbia must defend its citizens and that is what it is doing," he said.

"There's a fundamental problem here, we should not be turning Vancouver into a major exporter of fossil fuels."

As the Alberta-B.C. battle over the pipeline drags on, the federal minister of natural resources told The House he wasn't taking incentives off the table to motivate B.C. to cool down.

But Weaver strongly rejected that idea, and added Premier John — Horgan who the Greens supported when the NDP promised to try to stop the pipeline expansion — does as well.

"He has the same line in the sand, it's not as if it's my line in the sand or his line in the sand, both parties campaigned on exactly the same thing," Weaver said.

However, it shouldn't be about politics, he maintains, instead the provincial and federal governments need to "step above" politics and make the right choice.