Latest news
- The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected B.C. First Nations’ request for an appeal in the Trans Mountain pipeline case, bringing the project a step closer to eventual completion. The complainants had argued that Ottawa didn’t consult them properly before reapproving the project last year, but in February the Federal Court of Appeal ruled they had no power of veto over resource development and the government had met its obligations.
- Ottawa has owned the pipeline system since buying it in the summer of 2018 from U.S. oil giant Kinder Morgan. It has so far been approved twice by the National Energy Board, once in 2016 and again last year after a court ruling quashed the first approval because judges said Indigenous people weren’t consulted enough.
Feb. 8, 2018: A boat pulls a boom at the Kinder Morgan Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C., at the terminus for the Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
What is Trans Mountain?
Pipeline basics: The Trans Mountain pipeline system has carried Alberta’s oil to the B.C. coast since 1953, and can currently carry about 300,000 barrels of oil per day. The pipeline was owned by the Texas-based company Kinder Morgan, which tried throughout the 2010s to build a new pipeline along the existing one, boosting its capacity to 890,000 barrels a day. The expansion project would thread about 1,000 kilometres of new pipe from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C. Originally, that was estimated to cost $7.4-billion, but the Crown corporation running the pipeline (more on that later) revised that up to $12.6-billion, citing the regulatory obstacles that have postponed construction.
Legend
National parks
Existing pipeline
Parks
Expansion pipeline
Terminal
Indigenous lands
Pump station
Edmonton
0
80
KM
Jasper
National
Park
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
ALBERTA
Banff
National
Park
Calgary
Kamloops
Kelowna
Westridge
Van.
Sumas
Burnaby
Ferndale
WASH.
IDAHO
MONT.
Anacortes
MURAT YÜKSELIR AND JOHN SOPINSKI / THE GLOBE
AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP
CONTRIBUTORS; HIU; NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA;
OPEN GOVERNMENT; GRAPHIC NEWS; KINDER MORGAN
Legend
0
80
KM
Existing pipeline
ALBERTA
Expansion pipeline
Edmonton
Indigenous lands
National parks
Parks
Jasper
National
Park
Terminal
Pump station
Banff
National
Park
Calgary
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Kamloops
Kelowna
Westridge
Vancouver
Sumas
Burnaby
WASH.
IDAHO
MONT.
Ferndale
Pacific
Ocean
Anacortes
MURAT YÜKSELIR AND JOHN SOPINSKI / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP CONTRIBUTORS; HIU;
NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA; OPEN GOVERNMENT; GRAPHIC
NEWS; KINDER MORGAN
Legend
Edmonton
Existing pipeline
Expansion pipeline
16
ALBERTA
Indigenous lands
Jasper
National
Park
National parks
Parks
2
Terminal
Pump station
97
Banff
National
Park
Calgary
1
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
Kamloops
Vancouver
Island
Kelowna
Westridge
Sumas
Vancouver
Burnaby
Pacific
Ocean
Ferndale
WASH.
IDAHO
MONT.
0
80
Anacortes
KM
MURAT YÜKSELIR AND JOHN SOPINSKI / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP
CONTRIBUTORS; HIU; NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA; OPEN GOVERNMENT; GRAPHIC NEWS; KINDER MORGAN
Wasn’t it approved a while ago? The federal government gave Kinder Morgan the go-ahead for its pipeline expansion in 2016, while at the same time scuttling another planned Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline, Enbridge’s Northern Gateway. Then, amid opposition to the project from First Nations and environmental groups, the Federal Court of Appeal quashed that approval in August of 2018, saying Ottawa would need to do more consultations with Indigenous people. Natural Resource Minister Amarjeet Sohi also ordered a new National Energy Board review of the application. In its final report in February of 2019, it approved the pipeline again, saying there would be “considerable benefits” to Canada, while also acknowledging increased risk to southern resident killer whales and a likely increase in greenhouse-gas emissions.
Why isn’t Kinder Morgan building it? Hoping to force the province’s hand, Kinder Morgan announced on April 8, 2018, that it would suspend all “non-essential” spending on the project unless it could reach an agreement with the B.C. government within weeks. A few weeks later, two days before Kinder Morgan’s deadline, Mr. Morneau announced that Ottawa would buy the project and bring it to completion under a Crown corporation. Mr. Morneau, Mr. Trudeau and others in the government have said they don’t plan on being the project’s long-term owners, and Ottawa will look for new investors to eventually take the reins.
Interactive: A visual guide to Trans Mountain's impact on tanker traffic
In depth: A behind-the-scenes look at how the Trans Mountain deal was done
Who‘s for it, who’s against it
Stewart Phillip, Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, gives a news conference with Indigenous leaders and politicians opposed to the Trans Mountain expansion on April 18, 2018.Darryl Dyck/The Associated Press
First Nations: While some Indigenous nations signed agreements supporting Trans Mountain, many more are immovably opposed, arguing that the pipeline endangers their environmental rights and traditional lands. Some Indigenous groups – the Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the Ts’elxweyeqw Tribes and Coldwater Indian Band – have fought the pipeline process in court, arguing that First Nations weren’t properly consulted.
B.C.: In 2017, B.C.’s NDP came to power supported by the Greens, and promised to kill the Kinder Morgan project, which the previous provincial Liberal government had approved. Premier John Horgan also sought the courts’ advice about whether he had authority to block diluted bitumen from being shipped across the province by rail, but the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that the province doesn’t have that power under the Constitution, and the Supreme Court of Canada agreed.
Alberta: Trans Mountain was one of many issues that led to the 2019 defeat of Rachel Notley’s NDP government, whose plans to increase social spending and balance budgets by 2023 hinged on future oil revenue from pipelines. As premier, she gave the province new powers to restrict how fossil fuels were shipped out of the province, but shelved them (more on that below). Jason Kenney, whose United Conservatives unseated Ms. Notley in last April’s election, activated those powers immediately, threatening to “turn off the taps” to B.C. if it continued to resist Trans Mountain.
What Alberta’s been doing
May 22, 2019: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney looks to the gallery after the Throne Speech was delivered in Edmonton.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
The Trans Mountain battle has dragged on during the tenure of two very different leaders in Alberta: Ms. Notley, who tried a conciliatory tack with B.C. but created powerful legal mechanisms to retaliate against it, and Mr. Kenney, who has threatened to starve B.C. of fuel to make sure it agrees to the project.
Shortly after 2018′s court ruling against the pipeline approval, Ms. Notley pulled the plug on Alberta’s planned carbon-tax increases, saying its support for the federal climate-change plan hinged on Trans Mountain’s eventual completion. Then she introduced Bill 12, the Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Act, which gave the province broad authority over how oil is shipped out of Alberta, and to where. The law allows the province to:
- Force companies to get a licence before exporting fossil fuels by pipeline, rail or truck
- Let the Energy Minister set maximum daily amounts of fossil fuels to be exported
- Let the Energy Minister decide whether export licences are in Alberta's best interests and maintain supply for provincial needs
- Fine companies up to $10-million a day, and individuals up to $1-million a day, if they break the law
Ms. Notley didn’t use the Bill 12 powers in her last few months as premier, but when Mr. Kenney took office last year, he and his cabinet activated them immediately. In theory, Alberta can tighten oil exports to B.C., driving up prices for fuel and other products, which form a major part of trade between the western provinces.
INTERPROVINCIAL EXPORTS, B.C
AND ALBERTA, 2014
Goods and services, in millions of dollars
ALBERTA
Total exports: $73,610
B.C.
Total exports: $39,957
Alta.
$17,644
Ont.
$27,369
Ont.
$12,007
B.C.
$16,752
Sask.
$12,731
Que.
$4,157
Que.
$6,350
Sask.
$2,158
Man.
$5,356
Man.
$1,493
Atlantic
$1,529
Atlantic
$3,524
Territories
$1,527
Territories
$968
TOP 5 EXPORTS TO ALBERTA
TOP 5 EXPORTS TO B.C.
Natural gas
$2,277
Support services for
oil and gas extraction
(except exploration)
$2,088
Architectural,
engineering
and related services
$651
Diesel and
biodiesel fuels
$1,582
Conventional crude oil
$632
Conventional crude oil
$1,207
Prepared meals
$628
Gasoline
$1,161
Wholesale margins -
machinery, equipment
and supplies
$501
Fresh and frozen
beef and veal
$554
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA
INTERPROVINCIAL EXPORTS, B.C
AND ALBERTA, 2014
Goods and services, in millions of dollars
ALBERTA
Total exports: $73,610
B.C.
Total exports: $39,957
Alta.
$17,644
Ont.
$27,369
Ont.
$12,007
B.C.
$16,752
Sask.
$12,731
Que.
$4,157
Que.
$6,350
Sask.
$2,158
Man.
$5,356
Man.
$1,493
Atlantic
$1,529
Atlantic
$3,524
Territories
$1,527
Territories
$968
TOP 5 EXPORTS TO ALBERTA
TOP 5 EXPORTS TO B.C.
Natural gas
$2,277
Support services for oil
and gas extraction
(except exploration)
$2,088
Architectural, engineering
and related services
$651
Diesel and biodiesel fuels
$1,582
Conventional crude oil
$632
Conventional crude oil
$1,207
Prepared meals
$628
Gasoline
$1,161
Wholesale margins -
machinery, equipment
and supplies
$501
Fresh and frozen
beef and veal
$554
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA
INTERPROVINCIAL EXPORTS, B.C AND ALBERTA, 2014
Goods and services, in millions of dollars
ALBERTA
Total exports: $73,610
B.C.
Total exports: $39,957
Alta.
$17,644
Ont.
$27,369
Ont.
$12,007
B.C.
$16,752
Que.
$4,157
Sask.
$12,731
Sask.
$2,158
Que.
$6,350
Man.
$1,493
Man.
$5,356
Atlantic
$3,524
Atlantic
$1,529
Territories
$968
Territories
$1,527
TOP 5 EXPORTS TO ALBERTA
TOP 5 EXPORTS TO B.C.
Natural gas
$2,277
Support services for oil and gas
extraction (except exploration)
$2,088
Architectural, engineering
and related services
$651
Diesel and biodiesel fuels
$1,582
Conventional crude oil
$632
Conventional crude oil
$1,207
Prepared meals
$628
Gasoline
$1,161
Wholesale margins - machinery,
equipment and supplies
$501
Fresh and frozen beef and veal
$554
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA
What B.C.'s been doing
When the federal government re-approved the expansion project, Mr. Horgan said he was “disappointed” but that B.C. would not unduly withhold construction permits. “We will continue to defend our environment, our coast, and the tens of thousands of jobs that rely on them,” he said. The province also filed a constitutional challenge to block Mr. Kenney from using Alberta’s punitive Bill 12 powers, and unsuccessfully sought the blessing of B.C. and federal courts to limit oil-by-rail transport within B.C.'s borders.
What’s at stake for Ottawa, and what it could do next
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period on Feb. 3, 2020.Blair Gable/Reuters/Reuters
The Trudeau government’s decision to buy Trans Mountain made it a lightning rod for the criticism and costs of the project. Here’s what that means, and what other issues are at play.
Owning the pipeline: The Kinder Morgan gives the government ownership of the existing pipeline, rights of way along the route and the marine terminal in Burnaby. But once the expansion is built, the government doesn’t plan to be the pipeline’s proprietor for long: It is in negotiation with investors – including Indigenous communities, pension funds and the Alberta government – to eventually take over management of the pipeline. But since the pandemic has slashed global demand for oil, investment in energy projects has been even more precarious than usual, and it’s unclear who would eventually want to buy Trans Mountain.
Indigenous issues: Mr. Trudeau’s government has repeatedly said Indigenous reconciliation is a priority, but the standoff with B.C. First Nations over pipelines is putting that rhetoric to the test.
Climate change: Supporting Trans Mountain was Ottawa’s tradeoff to win Alberta’s support for a national carbon-pricing plan in 2017. That support faltered under Ms. Notley’s premiership, while Mr. Kenney campaigned in open opposition to any carbon tax at all; repealing it was one of his government’s first acts, soon followed by the federal government imposing a carbon price on Albertans. Getting Alberta to support carbon pricing is crucial because, without them, a national policy would be fairly toothless: The province accounted for 38 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. At the same time, building a pipeline that would accelerate global consumption of Canada’s oil is increasingly at odds with environmental policies focused on renewable energy and reduced fossil-fuel use.
What happens if the pipeline isn’t built?
Business: Alberta’s oil and gas sector had high hopes for Trans Mountain after other major pipeline projects — Keystone XL, Northern Gateway and Energy East hit political and regulatory roadblocks in Canada and the United States. Now, what looks like a sure bet is a source of ongoing uncertainty, and oil-industry leaders and major Canadian banks have warned that it will make Canada look like a less attractive investing destination..
Politics: For Mr. Trudeau, whose re-election last fall left the Liberals with no seats in Alberta or Saskatchewan, the pipeline dispute is a test of national unity and his government’s varied commitments to the environment, Indigenous people and opening Canada’s natural resources to global markets.
Opinion and analysis
Jeffrey Jones: Trans Mountain’s reapproval doesn’t solve energy sector’s woes
Robert Jago: It’s time to take consultations with First Nations seriously
Andrew Willis: Ottawa stuck with Trans Mountain pipeline other investors wisely rejected
David Milstead: Pipelines aren’t the cash cows many people think they are
Mary Janigan: B.C. politicians need a history lesson
Compiled by Globe staff
With reports from Kelly Cryderman, Jeff Lewis, Shawn McCarthy, Brent Jang, Ian Bailey, Justine Hunter, Justin Giovannetti, James Keller and The Canadian Press