By Spencer Fernando
April 25, 2018
A new report by the National Observer quotes ‘government insiders’ alleging that the Trudeau government ‘rigged’ the federal approval process for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
According to the report, government insiders, “Speaking on the condition of anonymity with National Observer, they say a high-ranking public servant instructed them, at least one month before the pipeline was approved, “to give cabinet a legally-sound basis to say ‘yes’” to Trans Mountain. These instructions came at a time when the government claimed it was still consulting in good faith with First Nations and had not yet come to a final decision on the pipeline.”
The report also notes “Legal experts interviewed by National Observer say these instructions could be a significant matter reviewed by the courts to determine if the government’s approval of Trans Mountain was valid.”
With their characteristic lack of ‘openness and transparency,’ the Trudeau government ‘would neither confirm, nor deny’ the report.
If true, this could be a serious problem – worsening an already terrible pipeline approval situation in this country.
It will leave the Trudeau government without any credibility whatsoever, as pipeline supporters (the majority of Canadians) are already turning against the government, and pipeline opponents will lose any faith that may have remained in an ‘unbiased’ approval process.
Potentially, this could even hurt the federal government’s case in court, an example of total incompetence and corruption weakening federal authority to get pipelines built.
Big difference between ‘approving’ a pipeline and actually getting it built
I have said many times that Trudeau doesn’t really want the Trans Mountain expansion to happen. All his actions show that to be the case, particularly the way he treated Saskatchewan for opposing his carbon tax (threats of punishment), and the way he treated the B.C. government for opposing the pipeline (rewards).
That’s why it’s important to note the key difference between ‘approving’ a pipeline and actually getting it done.
For political reasons, the Trudeau government had to go through the motions of looking like they wanted the pipeline to happen. So, it appears they may have ‘rigged’ the process to ensure that ‘approval’ took place no matter what, allowing them to appear to be trying to get it done.
But now that it’s facing opposition from the B.C. NDP and Greens, all of a sudden the government acts powerless and lets the expansion get closer and closer to be being delayed to death.
And now, it turns out that they may have ‘approved’ it in such a way as to make it even tougher to get it (and future pipelines) done, as the government could potentially face legal issues.
Another betrayal
Justin Trudeau regularly campaigned on getting the politics out of the pipeline approval process, saying Stephen Harper had broken the process and failed to get pipelines approved.
Of course, the truth is that Harper was more successful than Trudeau on getting pipelines done, but Trudeau doesn’t let facts get in the way of his arguments.
Still, many on the left liked what Trudeau said about an ‘evidence-based’ pipeline approval process, and the promise got him many votes.
Yet, it’s looking more and more like he is guilty of exactly what he accused Harper of: Twisting the pipeline approval process to service his political agenda.
So, while pipeline supporters and pipeline opponents may have many political disagreements, it’s fair to say that no Canadian citizen should be lied to by the government that is supposed to represent us.
This would be another in a long list of ways the Trudeau government has betrayed Canadians across the political spectrum and shows yet again that nothing Justin Trudeau says can be trusted.
Read the full National Observer report below here.
Spencer Fernando
