Premier believes Trans Mountain expansion good first step

The announcement of the approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on Tuesday prompted Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe to discuss what’s next, as well as commend the federal government on the expansion.

At a press conference at the Saskatoon cabinet office, Moe said it was a good day for the province and for Western Canada.

“It will create thousands of jobs across the nation, it will unlock markets for our Western Canadian energy abroad, and it will enable Western Canadian production to increase,” Moe said.

Moe was quick to acknowledge that this was the second time that the project had been approved. He commended the federal government on making the changes, and taking the time and working on the proposed consultations and the full environmental review to make the expansion complete.

Moe said the expansion will boost sales overall, and enable production in Western Canada to increase by around $12 billion.

“It will boost prices for our Western Canadian energy, and allow us some protection with respect to the differential,” he said.

A large focus for the expansion, in Moe’s eyes, will be to expand the customer base. Right now, he said the U.S. remains the lone customer, and this was another step in expansion.

“As we are able to approve and construct pipelines just like (the Trans Mountain), it allows us to expand that customer base,” Moe said.

He was quick to commend the federal government’s decision, but wasn’t shy about speaking about the next step, the proposed Energy East pipeline. The premier said it would be in the “public’s best interest” to get moving on the project.

“It would put Canadians to work across this nation. It would give Canadians in Atlantic Canada (a chance) to access the sustainable energy we produce here in Western Canada,” he said. “The access to this product is in the public’s interest. The ability to put this product in the pipeline is in this public’s interest.”

He says there’s still energy being transported on the railways across the country. There is still work to do, according to Moe.

A part of Tuesday’s announcement was also to require every dollar in federal revenue from the project to be invested in clean energy and green technology. This was something Moe agreed with, and he said the investment is already there.

“We have already invested substantially in carbon capture and storage, and ultimately enhanced oil recovery, which produces some of the more sustainable energy that we are providing and would like to provide to all Canadians,” Moe said.

For the naysayers of the pipelines, with respect to climate change, Moe said to look no further than the carbon content in Western Canada.

“Look at the carbon content in a barrel of oil in Western Canada, and the carbon content in barrels of oil that we are importing into other areas of the nation, and other areas of the world are producing, in (those) other areas of the world,” he said.

Moe said that the demand overall for oil is not going away anytime soon, and that is something he’s thankful that the federal government agrees with. He said this is a good first step for the nation.

“As we transition to a cleaner economy around the world, we’re still going to continue, and the prime minister agrees, (to use oil for a long time),” Moe said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said construction will restart this construction season, but no specific date has been set yet.

— With files from the Canadian Press