Premier Rachel Notley says she will take things easy on Quebec when she meets with that province’s premier in Vancouver on Wednesday, a day after officials said they’d filed for an injunction against the controversial Energy East pipeline.
Notley told reporters on Tuesday that she was ready to vigorously defend the project but, upon further investigation into Quebec’s request, now believes that it is pushing for a review under an existing system and would not slow the project down at all.
Quebec is demanding that TransCanada, the company overseeing the Energy East pipeline, abide by the rules set out by their province before it goes any further.
The Energy East project has the goal of carrying Alberta crude to refineries in the Maritimes, ultimately for overseas export.
The company says that because the pipeline would cross more than one province, it should only have to abide by the rules set out by the federal government.
The Quebec government disagrees, saying that all major projects need to comply with their own rules too.
“Quebecers want to do a full environmental impact assessment on this project. This is what Quebec wants, this is what the people want, this is what the cities and towns want,” said Quebec’s Environment Minister David Heurtel on Tuesday.
Notley says she is concerned that the provincial review will mirror the environmental impact assessment planned by the federal government and told reporters that if that turns out to be the case, she would bring out the big guns.
“If we ultimately determine that’s what this is intended to turn into, we will vigorously oppose it and you will hear a great deal more from me on this.”
She is firmly behind the proposal, saying that it is an important facet of Alberta growing as an energy producer.
“This is this century’s railway. If we are going to build this country, we must get a pipeline to tidewater. This continues to be a fundamental component of our economy and we just need to grow up and act like a 21st century energy producer.”
Notley says that Alberta has retained counsel in Quebec for the injunction and will be closely monitoring the situation.
During the first day of the meeting on Wednesday, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said that it is important to let the energy boards do their jobs. "I've had conversations with the previous Alberta premiers being very clear that what the Ontario Energy Board was doing in order to feed into the National Energy Board process was not in any way to undermine the national process."
Quebec Premier Phillipe Couillard also said that the Energy East issue has nothing to do with geography.
"It's not about east versus west or this part of the country versus that part of the country - it's about process. It's about a company operating in Quebec and having to operate under Quebec's rules, laws, and regulations, which is exactly similar to anywhere else in the country."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau still hasn’t picked a side in the recent development, saying that all Canadians wish to have a thriving economy, but aren’t willing to get it at the cost of damaging the environment.
(With files from CTVNews.ca)
