The Trudeau government is taking an extraordinary step in its push to ship more oil sands crude to global markets and will buy the Trans Mountain pipeline from Kinder Morgan for $4.5-billion after the company lost interest in an expansion project beset by fierce opposition from environmentalists, Indigenous groups and the B.C. government.
This move – which amounts to a nationalization of what Ottawa considers a critical-infrastructure project – came after Kinder Morgan signalled it wanted to walk away from plans to expand the existing pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C., even though the Liberal cabinet had earlier offered to indemnify it against financial losses.
It is the largest federal government intervention since 2009, when Ottawa joined the Ontario government to advance more than $13.3-billion to help keep Chrysler and General Motors afloat. Back then, however, a larger financial crisis was playing out.
Steven Chase, Kelly Cryderman and Jeff Lewis – Globe and Mail – May 29, 2018.