Canadian government green-lights Trans Mountain expansion, again

The 800 mile-long pipeline takes oil from Western Canada, largely Alberta, to British Columbia. The expansion will add a second pipeline, allowing Canada to get larger amounts of oil to the Asian markets.

Trudeau was widely expected to press ahead with the project. His government purchased the pipeline in 2018 with the intention of speeding up the expansion.

Re-approving Trans Mountain’s expansion will help Trudeau in October’s federal elections. His conservative critics have jumped other policies such as carbon taxes and a proposed oil tanker ban as evidence that Trudeau places environmentalism ahead of Canada’s economic prosperity.

While environmentalists have criticized the expansion, critics on the right, particularly in Western Canada, have criticized him for not building enough pipelines. Lack of pipelines was a central grievance in a trucker convoy that traveled from Western Canada to Ottawa in February.

Trudeau said the pipeline expansion was consistent with his environmentalist policies. He said that Canada needed to take advantage of its existing resources to invest in a clean-energy future. He said profits from Trans Mountain would be invested in clean energy projects.

“We do not see the goals as irreconcilable,” he said.

Western Canada’s oil sands have struggled with the worldwide decline of oil prices. Its oil has a lower energy density, and has a higher transport cost because of its location in landlocked Western Canada.

It is unclear how quickly the project will move forward, but Trudeau suggested it would happen quickly.

“The company plans to have shovels in the ground this construction season,” Trudeau said.