One tiny spill sets the scene for a tense week on pipeline front

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s child-like refusal to attend a premier’s conference last week shows just how nasty the whole thing has become.

And then, her stand-in at the meeting refused to sign off on an official closing statement because it didn’t include support for the pipeline.

Add to it the silly Alberta threat to cut off fuel supplies to our province, and British Columbia is looking like the only adult in the room.

Premier John Horgan could have pulled a Notley and refused to attend the conference as well, but instead he was there dealing with things like pharmacare and the legalization of marijuana.

The rhetoric from Alberta borders on the hysterical. As Notley puts it, B.C. is “trying to choke the economic lifeblood of the province and the country.”

In other words, in the view of the Alberta NDP government, her province and the entire country will fall apart if the Trans Mountain twinning doesn’t happen. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket.

So what can we expect to happen this week? When federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau makes a speech Wednesday, he’ll likely confirm the feds’ promise to bail Kinder Morgan out of any financial inconvenience caused by further delays, maybe even with a detail or two on how much will be anteed up.

And, on Thursday, Kinder Morgan will say it’s satisfied with the federal response to date and will give it more time.

As for that 100 litres of crude on the ground at Darfield, it’s either ridiculously insignificant and shows the Trans Mountain folks are on their toes, or it proves the fallibility of pipelines.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

by Armchair Mayor

One tiny spill sets the scene for a tense week on pipeline front

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