QUESTION PERIOD — Natural Resources
Trans Mountain Pipeline
February 27, 2024
My next question concerns the Trudeau government’s mismanagement of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project. This project would not have cost Canadian taxpayers anything if the Trudeau government had been able to give Kinder Morgan the regulatory certainty they were seeking. Instead, it provided anti‑energy policies and rhetoric.
In February of 2022, Minister Freeland announced Trans Mountain would receive no further funding from taxpayers. However, a few days before Christmas, the Trudeau government revealed it had backed loans for Trans Mountain, provided by commercial lenders, worth up to $2 billion.
Leader, doesn’t this go against what Minister Freeland promised Canadian taxpayers two years ago?
Thank you for the question. The decision to go ahead with the Trans Mountain Pipeline, and to support it, over the objections of many sectors of our society, was a reflection of this government’s attempt to do the right thing for Canada, for its energy sector and for the environment by finding a balanced approach to respecting the energy needs and resources of our country — in particular, resource-producing provinces who need better access to world markets — while seeking ways to transport petroleum products in a safe way, which includes pipelines as compared to other measures. It is — and remains — a responsible, balanced and prudent approach.
This government has been anti-energy more than anything else.
Having said that, we also learned that Trans Mountain wrote off $888 million out of the $4.7 billion taxpayers’ dollars that the Trudeau government spent to purchase it in 2018. This writeoff was called a “goodwill impairment expense.”
Leader, once again, doesn’t this go against what Minister Freeland promised taxpayers just two years ago?
I’m not in a position to comment on what the accountant or the writeoffs refer to or mean. In that regard, I stand by my answer in support for the ongoing development of our resource industry. It is an important aspect of an overall energy and environmental plan for this country, which this government is pursuing and will continue to pursue.
