Singh sides with B.C. in hornet’s nest of pipeline politics for the NDP
OTTAWA — Jagmeet Singh planted the federal NDP flag firmly on British Columbia’s side of the Trans Mountain dispute Wednesday after months of trying to stay neutral in the bitter feud between his Alberta and B.C. counterparts over energy and environmental policy.
In fact Singh said he hasn’t even had a conversation with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley in months — not since Notley called him and his position on the pipeline “irrelevant” last fall, nor since Notley’s description of him last week as “absolutely, fundamentally, incontrovertibly wrong.”
“We’ve not have a chance to speak yet,” Singh told a news conference after his weekly caucus meeting.
Until recently, Singh had called for a more thorough environmental review process on the proposal to twin an existing pipeline that runs between Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C. He now says he is 100 per cent opposed, since Ottawa wants to put money on the table to cover any cost overruns caused by political interference — largely from a court challenge by the NDP government in B.C.