Nathan Cullen among MP's to sit in on emergency committee session on TransMountain decision

Last weeks political earthquake in Ottawa, which saw the Federal Government's plans to twin the TransMountain pipeline put to the sidelines following a Federal court of Appeal decision. will make for the theme of an emergency session of Parliament's Natural Resources Committee.

The court decision which ruled that consultation with Indigenous communities had not been robust enough, along with concerns over the impact of an increase of oil tanker traffic off the coast of British Columbia has sent the Liberals back to the drawing board when it comes to moving forward their plans for their 4.5 billion dollar purchase of the Kinder Morgan pipeline and assets.

With the government still to announce how it plans to address the court ruling and what the next steps may be when it comes to moving Alberta's oil to port facilities, four committee members requested today's session to discuss the issue and seek some clarification from the Federal government on the issue.

Mr. Cullen made note of the call to Committee this morning and his plans to sit through his social media accounts.

Last week, the Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP noted how the federal NDP had welcomed the federal court ruling, observing that the Liberals under Justin Trudeau, had followed what he calls "the same failed approach of the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper", drawing a parallel to the debates over the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal of the time.

“This is a win for Indigenous rights, for protection of the coast and waterways of British Columbia and for the future of our climate. Trudeau made a clear promise to properly review this pipeline and to meaningfully consult Indigenous groups. Instead the Liberals went ahead with the same failed approval process inherited from Stephen Harper,”    

“In the Northwest, we faced and fought the exact same process with Enbridge’s Northern Gateway and it was clear it gave virtually no consideration of the effect of a pipeline project on the coast and waterways.”

Today's session of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources will be televised through the Parliament of Canada streaming service, you can access the session here.

While Mr. Cullen has plans to sit in on the session, he is not a member of the Committee, the list of Committee members and associate members can be examined here.

The proceedings get underway at 9AM Pacific time and continue through until 11 AM.

For more items of interest related to Federal politics see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review