Mayor Derek Corrigan
Mayor Derek Corrigan

Burnaby: Unfortunately, today’s announcement by the federal government is expected. Kinder Morgan continues to call the shots, with our federal government agreeing to bear the unknown costs of the ultimatum from a multinational oil company, clearly demonstrating the influence of Texas in the inside corridors of Ottawa.

Kinder Morgan said that they “cannot expose” their shareholders to the project’s risks, yet our federal government is embracing the opportunity to expose Canadians to those same risks.

How much will Canadians pay? We don’t know.

When Kinder Morgan announced their ultimatum, they didn’t reveal the current cost of the project that had already ballooned from $5.4 billion to $6.8 billion to $7.4 billion. Instead, they said, “Given the current uncertain conditions, KML is not updating its cost and schedule estimate at this time.” That didn’t stop our federal government from accepting all of the responsibility.

And not only will Canadian taxpayers bear the unknown project costs, they will also pay $4.5 billion for the company’s assets.

In addition, the tremendous environmental risks the project has always presented to Metro Vancouver residents and all Canadians are neither addressed nor diminished by this purchase. It only ensures we will now also be financially responsible for them.

Trudeau said the Kinder Morgan project approval process was flawed and would be redone. Now he’s doubling down on the flawed approval to bail out Kinder Morgan shareholders and the banks that have backed them, all at the expense of Canada’s environment and economy – and he’s making us pay the price for their mistakes and incompetence.

Burnaby will continue to ask the courts to please protect the Canadian people from a federal government that is bought and paid for by the oil industry.