Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs is letting her voice be heard when it comes to the Trans Mountain Pipeline. The project was recently purchased by the Federal government for $4.5 billion to ensure it goes ahead after numerous protests against its construction. The Federal Liberal party is hoping that once the project is completed it can be sold off to another company.
Conservative Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs says she’s not very excited about the prospect of public funds being used for a private venture.
“There are 125,000 kilometers of pipelines in Canada right now that didn’t require one single tax dollar to be built so I’m very alarmed that the Liberals can’t actually account for what the total cost to taxpayers will be.”
Some groups are estimating that the final bill on the project may reach upwards of $7 billion. Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau has stated that multiple parties are interested in the pipeline once it is built. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley weighed in on the announcement, tweeting that the project “now has more certainty than it has ever had”
There are those who said we could never make this happen, some hoped – are still hoping – it would fail for their own political interests.
But, instead of cheering against Alberta, Canadians have come together and this project now has more certainty than it has ever had.#ableg— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) May 29, 2018
Stubbs says she’s always happy to hear about a project with job creation, but the way the government has gone about the pipeline might have a ripple effect on future projects too.
“I fear that the Prime Minister is giving the signal that a company can do all that and meet all those measures, can be wanting to invest billions of dollars into the Canadian Economy for a vital infrastructure project, and then ultimately can’t go ahead with it and have the government come in and nationalize it.”
The project was originally approved as an undertaking by Energy company Kinder Morgan in May 2012.