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431-00254 (Natural resources and energy)

Paper petition

Original language of petition: English

PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA

We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, draw the attention of the House of Commons to the following:

THAT, WHEREAS the Trudeau administration has announced it will spend $4.5 billion of public funds on acquiring the existing Trans Mountain pipeline from Kinder Morgan;

WHEREAS this $4.5 billion is not inclusive of construction costs for the expansion, projected to increase the cost of the deal to over $11 billion;

WHEREAS the pipeline was valued at $550 million by Kinder Morgan in 2007;

WHEREAS the expansion still has to pass the National Energy Board's 157 conditions and over a dozen court challenges before it can be built;

WHEREAS during the election, Trudeau promised to overhaul the Harper administration's deeply flawed pipeline approval process, respect Indigenous rights, and end fossil fuel subsidies;

WHEREAS a diluted bitumen spill would devastate local ecosystems and economies on the West Coast, or any area surrounding the 800 bodies of water its path crosses;

WHEREAS there is no proven way to clean up a diluted bitumen spill in a marine environment;

WHEREAS shipping out unprocessed diluted bitumen to refineries in other countries ships out Canadian jobs; and

WHEREAS the Trans Mountain expansion will; lock in oil-sands production growth that cannot be reconciled with Canada's greenhouse gas emissions reduction commitments, increase the risk of a diluted bitumen spill, violate the rights of Indigenous communities along the pipeline route, threaten Indigenous communities reliant on the marine environment for their livelihood and cultural practices

THEREFORE, we, the undersigned, RESIDENTS OF CANADA, call upon the GOVERNMENT OF CANADA to immediately halt any plans to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline or otherwise support its expansion.

Response by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

Signed by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): The Honourable Chrystia Freeland

The Government thanks the petitioners for expressing their views about Canada’s purchase of the Trans Mountain Corporation (TMC) as well as views on TMC’s Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP).

On June 18, 2019, the Government of Canada approved TMEP by directing the Canada Energy Regulator to issue a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and Environmental Assessment Decision Statement related to TMEP.

The environment and the economy go hand-in-hand. When we create prosperity today, we can invest in the clean jobs, technologies, and infrastructure of the future — and help Canadians benefit from opportunities presented by a rapidly changing economy.

The key to creating prosperity is finding new markets for our businesses to sell their products and services. Nowhere is the need to diversify greater than for our energy sector, where 99 per cent of our conventional resources are sold to one market — and often at large discounts. Canadians understand that we need to open up new international markets, in order to get a full and fair price, support workers and their families, and foster competitiveness.

The Government’s approval of TMEP was based on the confidence that:

  • strong environmental protections have been and continue to be put in place, and that the effects of TMEP can be mitigated through conditions and recommendations outlined by the National Energy Board, as well as measures including the historic $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan and the national climate plan.
  • consultations with Indigenous peoples involved meaningful, two-way dialogue, which fulfilled the legal duty to consult and helped identify new accommodation measures and conditions to appropriately address potential impacts on Indigenous rights and concerns expressed by Indigenous communities.

On February 7, 2020, TMC announced that its Board of Directors had approved a total cost estimate of $12.6 billion to bring TMEP into service by the end of 2022. The Government is confident that the TMEP will generate a positive return for Canadians.

TMEP as it stands today is very different from the project that Kinder Morgan proposed in 2017. It has been designed to a higher standard for environmental protection, undergone rigorous consultation with Indigenous groups and will support union jobs in B.C. and Alberta. These enhancements have improved TMEP, ensured that construction proceeds in the right way, and that it will support the Canadian economy today and into the future.

The Government also announced that every dollar the federal government earns from TMEP will be invested in Canada’s clean energy transition. It is estimated that additional tax revenues from TMEP alone could generate $500 million per year once the project has been completed. This money will be invested in clean energy projects that will power our homes, businesses, and communities for generations to come.

In addition, the Government launched the second step of its engagement process with Indigenous groups on June 9, 2020, to explore the possibility of Indigenous economic participation in the Project.  In this step of the engagement process, the Government is focused on building consensus on the form of economic participation in the Project preferred by participating Indigenous groups: equity and/or revenue sharing; and identifying or supporting the formation of one or more entities to represent participating Indigenous groups in negotiations with Canada.

By moving forward with TMEP, the Government is creating jobs, diversifying markets, accelerating Canada’s clean energy transition, and opening up new avenues for Indigenous economic prosperity.

Presented to the House of Commons
Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
June 15, 2020 (Petition No. 431-00254)
Government response tabled
September 24, 2020
Photo - Elizabeth May
Saanich—Gulf Islands
Green Party Caucus
British Columbia

Only validated signatures are counted towards the total number of signatures.