Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated the Canadian government's support of Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd's Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion, stating that the C$7.4 billion pipeline is "going to get built," Reuters reported Feb. 1.
Trudeau made Canada's position clear on two separate radio interviews, stating that the project poses no threat to the country's west coast. "We know that getting our oil resources to new markets across the Pacific is absolutely essential," Trudeau said in an interview with CBC Radio in Edmonton. "We can’t continue to be trapped with the price differential we have in the American market. We need this pipeline and we’re going to move forward with it responsibly like I committed to."
Trudeau's remark came days after the government of British Columbia, which has been vocal in its opposition of the pipeline expansion, proposed restrictions on increased shipments of crude oil through the province. The government said the restrictions would be the second phase of earlier regulations that included oil spill response measures.
The Canadian unit of the Houston-based pipeline giant Kinder Morgan Inc. was allowed to start construction on the oil pipeline expansion on Dec. 7, 2017.
