Morneau touts Trans Mountain in Calgary; greeted by protestors and financial questions

A day after making the blockbuster announcement that the federal government would purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion project, Canada’s finance minister touched down in the heart of the energy sector to tout the move.

“They’ll be those of you who will wonder how much we’ll support the sector,” Bill Morneau told the Calgary Chamber of Commerce Wednesday. “And when you have that question, I want you to think back to yesterday and that’s the example of how strongly we’ll support the sector.”

Ahead of his speech, a crowd of pro-pipeline protestors yelled “Build that Pipe!” while wearing ‘I Love Oil Sands’ t-shirts, with Morneau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley greeting them and signing a ‘Pipelines to Tidewater’ banner.

During the speech, several protestors from Climate Justice Edmonton took a difference approach, interrupting his address and yelling the pipeline will never be built.

Morneau told the crowd of 550 that his goal is to hold on to Trans Mountain for a ‘short time’ after buying it from Kinder Morgan for $4.5 billion, with the sale expected to be completed by the end of August.

But the finance minister has been pressed on the possibility that future costs could well exceed that number, as the company has previously pegged the total expansion cost at $7.4 billion.

“We looked at this project trying to get to a fair price for the assets, we looked at over course due diligence, the range of potential construction costs,” he told reporters. “There are some commercially sensitive issues here.”

“The specific question around construction costs is one that is commercially sensitive at this stage, what I can assure is this is a commercially viable project.”

The agreement will also indemnify a potential buyer for additional costs caused by government attempts to delay or stop the project, with the Alberta Government on the hook to put up $2 billion for ‘unforeseen circumstances.’

While Morneau stressed they want to hold onto the project for a short period, the ultimate priority is to make sure it gets up and running.

“The challenge will be what timing is most appropriate to meet the goal,” he said. “We’ll be listening to potential bidders in the near term to ascertain whether that will provide us with project certainty and a financial deal that’s appropriate for Canadians.”

As for those potential investors, Morneau reiterated he’s been approached by Indigenous groups, pension providers and other infrastructure groups about taking over, but held back on specifics.

“We expect that we’ll have other groups that will emerge, I’m not in a position right now to talk about who those groups are or who they might be,” he said. “I’m not right now actually aware of all of the groups.”

Notley also gave a short speech to the crowd and took questions at a separate event later in the day.

She said it’s unclear what Alberta’s $2 billion would cover, but that whatever is spent would be come equity.

“The risk is low, the payoff is huge and the structure of the financing is not a subsidy,” she said. “We get value out from money in and that’s why we think this is a good opportunity.”

As for expectations that more protestors will arrive in B.C., Notley said they have every right to speak, so long as it’s lawful.

“They’ll have to follow the law,” she said. “If they’re protests actually interfere with construction, I imagine that there would be injunctions and then the injunctions would be enforced as they already have been.”

Morneau agrees.

“We see that we should continue on the path that’s been taken by the proponent and of course we will respect the fact that we live in a democracy,” he said. “We’ll listen, but we’ll ensure that the project gets done.”

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