Community befits alone ... the improvement projects as part of Trans mountain going through Kamloops. There was going to be a whole corridor improvement project

Alan Forseth ~~ Kamloops ~~ April 18^th, 2019

Conservative MP Cathy McLeod
Kamloops - Thompson - Cariboo

Cathy McLeod, Member of Parliament for Kamloops – Thompson – Cariboo says today’s announcement by the Liberal government to extend the deadline to June 18^th to make a final decision on the Trans Mountain Expansion, proves they never planned to meet the original deadline.

“The fact that the Liberals announced this extension only a month before the original decision deadline, and two days after the Alberta election, proves they never planned to get this project underway in a timely manner,” said McLeod.

“This means that the Trans Mountain Expansion will miss another summer construction season, adding significant delays to the completion of this project.”

Not only completion of the project is at stake however, numerous other projects, as well as increasing the viability of business all around the region. McLeod indicated local governments, they had talked about, having some of that support in terms of community benefit agreements, and of course don’t have it.

Cathy went on to tell me that:

“Community befits alone ... the improvement projects as part of Trans mountain going through Kamloops.  There was going to be a whole corridor improvement project.” 

“Not only is it the ongoing revenue, it’s the short-term improvement projects AND the work.”

MP Cathy McLeod went on to say that, “In the community of Valemount for example they were hoping to have their restaurants full, there accommodations full, there work camps vibrant and running. “

And what does that mean I asked?

“It’s really another year where their community benefits and projects won’t flow.”

The mistakes the Liberals have made on the Trans Mountain Expansion, with their ‘no more pipelines’ Bill C-69 and other anti-energy policies and legislation have destroyed Canada’s reputation as a stable, fair, predictable destination for energy investment.

Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made Canadians pay for his mistakes by spending $4.5 billion of taxpayer’s money to purchase the existing pipeline – and he overpaid for the pipeline by over a billion dollars.

Again, commenting on the postponement, Cathy McLeod showed serious concern in stating, “Every delay, according to a parliamentary report is at significant cost to taxpayers. There will be increased construction costs by hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“The fact is that the Liberals have no plan to actually get the Expansion built”

“Every year of delay kills additional tens of thousands of Canadian jobs as upstream oil and gas projects are scaled back and expansions are cancelled due to a lack of pipeline capacity”, said McLeod.

Of course, British Columbians need be concerned with how Premier elect Jason Kenney is going to handle the delay, after all, he had already threatened to turn of the supply of oil and gas to be BC should he and the United Conservative Party be elected.  McLeod was optimistic however.

“I think what we all want to see, including Premier elect Kenney, is for the commitment to move the pipeline forward.  I noted today in his comments regarding the delay, he was he was maintaining some optimism.”

She continued, “I was certainly frustrated by again another announcement of a delay.  To some degree you wonder how much electoral politics is beginning to factor in to this decision”.

“I think, as you know, the communities across the province are very divided.  Here the interior is predominantly supportive -- not everyone of obviously but predominantly -- where you know the lower mainland its probably the opposite.”

She then continued by stating that, “Certainly the pipeline does have influence in terms of some peoples perspective on how, and what, a government is doing, and should be doing”.

Moving into what will likely be the battle cry for the Conservatives, come the October federal election:

“I believe that we need an Andrew Scheer Conservative government that has promised to cancel the Carbon Tax, scrap the ‘no more pipelines’ Bill C-69 and stand up for Canada’s energy sector with the leadership needed to help energy workers and their families get ahead,” concluded McLeod.