The Canadian government buying Kinder Morgan’s core Canadian assets, including the existing pipeline through North Langley, won’t stop opposition.
Opponent Brandon Gabriel, a Kwantlen First Nation member, said the $4.5 billion purchase comes as no surprise.
“It comes as no surprise that Kinder Morgan is bailing out on their own project and is saddling their debt burden on the taxpayers of Canada, and both the federal government and the Alberta government have no choice but to clamp down and bite on a deal that is still facing 15 supreme court challenges, $2 billion in debt, and no end in sight for delays,” he commented.
The deal actually confirms what many opponents believe, he noted.
“This is looking like panic from the prime minister of Canada, and a welcome sign to the opponents of this dubious project,” Gabriel said.
Kinder Morgan had set a May 31 deadline for deciding whether to pull out of the proposed pipeline (TMEP) because of delays, opposition and court challenges.
Tamara Jansen, the local businesswoman who organized a pro-resource rally that was held May 26 in Milner, is also not a fan of the government buying the pipeline.
“I would say that today [Tuesday] marks the moment our country becomes ‘Canazuela’,” Janzen commented, making a comparison to Venezuela which nationalized its energy sector in the 1970s. “It’s a scary thing when the deep pockets of the government compete against private enterprise. Nobody wins in that scenario.”
The deal includes the existing pipeline built in the 1950s.
The price is $4.5 billion Canadian and the deal includes the federal government and KM looking for a third-party buyer before a July 22 deadline.
The sale requires that the pipeline expansion project continue and is subject to approval by KM shareholders and regulators. That’s expected to drive the cost to at least $12 billion.
KM keeps control over its oil tank storage facilities in Alberta, the Vancouver Wharves Terminal, and its pipeline from the U.S. to Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.
“Well, let’s be honest, the federal and Alberta governments have basically been acting as middle-managers on behalf of this foreign oil company right from the outset and will continue to do so,” Gabriel said. “So the playing field has not changed all that much.”
There will continue to be opposition by the Kwantlen, other indigenous people and non-indigenous opponents, he noted.
“We are still planning on asserting our Indigenous rights and title to these unceded lands, and that assertion has been conspicuously left out of the conversations taking place at the government levels, in the media, and on the streets in our communities,” Gabriel said.
The deal isn’t good fiscally, he added.
“The financial bailout by the federal government will ultimately lead to more financial losses paid from taxpayers who will now be faced with paying off the debt incurred by an American oil company. From a business perspective it makes no sense.
“From a political perspective the Trudeau government is just trying to save face and elimination from their seat of power in the coming election down the road, and the Notley government is in a tough spot as well. Both governments are trying to appear like they are in control of the situation, but they keep digging themselves further into untenable political turmoil.”
