For Liberals and pipelines, it’s pick and choose. They support Line 3, Keystone XL, the massive LNG project running to B.C.’s coast and the Trans Mountain pipeline extension, which they bought for $4.5 billion. But they cancelled the Northern Gateway pipeline and changed the rules for the Energy East pipeline, leading to the project’s abandonment.
The Conservatives want to expand Canada’s oil and gas sector and have accused Liberals of stalling Trans Mountain. Leader Andrew Scheer said he would use constitutional powers to declare construction of pipelines to be in the national interest, a move he argues would get them built faster. He also would overturn recent legislation restricting the movement of oil tankers in northern B.C.
Leader Jagmeet Singh has strongly opposed the Trans Mountain project. But his reversal over the liquefied natural gas project in B.C. has drawn ridicule. He previously supported the project, but backed down in May. He still won’t say whether he supports it, telling reporters the future of energy does not include fracking or fossil fuels. He would give provinces veto power over national infrastructure projects that run through them, including pipelines.
Leader Elizabeth May would not approve any new pipeline project and opposes any pipeline carrying diluted bitumen. She would also cancel Trans Mountain — and was even arrested while protesting the project. Her party wants Canada off oil by 2050. Until then, the party wants to stop imports of foreign oil.
The party is against new pipelines — especially Energy East, the proposed pipeline that would have run through Quebec. TransCanada cancelled it in 2017, after stiff protests and a federal change in the approval process. It wants Quebec to have a veto over any pipeline that would run through the province and for the government to sell off Trans Mountain.
The party strongly supports building pipelines and, like the Conservatives, would use constitutional powers to declare pipeline building to be in the national interest. Leader Maxime Bernier has said he would be willing to use the Constitution to “impose a pipeline in [his] own province of Quebec” — a move many Quebec politicians reject.
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