Kenney says Ottawa needs to force issue with pipelines

By Gillian Slade on September 7, 2018.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com  @MHNGillianSlade

Jason Kenney says Alberta not only needs to rescue Trans-Mountain, but other pipelines as well.

He also believes the best leverage the province has would be a suspension of equalization payments.

The United Conservative leader stated these claims Thursday afternoon prior to a fundraising dinner for about 175 people in Medicine Hat.

“The ultimate leverage for Alberta is equalization,” he told the News. “We contribute about $20 billion net to the rest of Canada each year, $200 billion in the last decade.”

If the federal government will not guarantee the construction of a coastal pipeline, Kenney says a UCP government would be prepared to hold a referendum on Section 36 of the constitution, which covers equalization.

He believes this would trigger a judgment from the Supreme Court of Canada, claiming the High Court said 20 years ago that if a province calls for constitutional amendment through a referendum it forces binding good faith negotiations.

“This would not guarantee our desired outcome but it would elevate Alberta’s fight for fairness to the top of the national agenda in the same way that Quebec political leaders have so effectively done in the last 40 years,” Kenney said.

Another measure the federal government could try, Kenney says, would be suspending federal transfers to British Columbia in response to that province’s effective blockade.

He says Ottawa needs to immediately appeal the pipeline decision to the Supreme Court, while also passing Bill S245 to declare the Trans-Mountain pipeline to be in the national interest.

He didn’t stop there, urging Ottawa to withdraw “regulatory hurdles and make it possible for future pipelines to be built. Kenney wants the federal government to pave the way for Trans-Canada to put Energy East back on the table, and to withdraw Bill C48, a Northern B.C. tanker ban that he says killed the Northern Gateway.

“In other words it’s not just about Trans-Mountain pipeline, it is about pursuing other alternatives as well.”

He then went on to say provincial coalitions could exert more pressure on Ottawa, citing discussions with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Sakatchewan Premier Scott Moe, as well as East Coast leaders who want Energy East back on the books.

Kenney called for aboriginal consultation to specifically include those in “pro-development,” instead of what he says is a small minority of anti-development First Nations.

“Every single First Nation on the Trans-Mountain pipeline route supports it,” he claimed. “Squamish, which led the litigation at the federal court last week, isn’t anywhere close to the pipeline … I want to bring some balance back to the debate on the question of Aboriginal consultation.”

On the subject of future Alberta independency, which a small pocket of citizens have suggested off and on for years, he says separating from the rest of Canada would make Alberta a jurisdictional island in North America with no coastal access. Instead, he believes the province has a strong legal constitutional argument to get pipelines built.

With a provincial election looming in the spring, Kenney promises the UCP will releasing an economic vision beforehand. He is still promising the elimination of the carbon tax, even though there is considerable provincial debt.

He believes there will be associated savings by scrapping the carbon tax and its $1.4 billion in estimated revenue. He says the UCP will focus on economic growth of three per cent each year plus restoring investor confidence, which he says has faltered under the NDP

After two years of negative numbers during the recession, Alberta’s GDP grew at 4.9 per cent in 2017, according to Statistics Canada.

Kenney claims the UCP would eliminate the deficit — which was $8 billion in 2017 — in just three years without having to make any cuts to services.

“No cuts, no increases, we get to a balanced budget by about 2022 … It doesn’t have to be like 1993, but with growth and time and disciplined restraint we can get to balance in the first term,” he said.

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