Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr says the government will not entertain any attempts by British Columbia to stall or stop the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Carr is responding to a Conservative motion calling on the government to use every tool at its disposal to get the pipeline built and report to Parliament on its plans by Feb. 15.
READ: Trudeau talks to premiers about pipeline battle
Carr says the Conservatives are trying to manufacture a crisis and that B.C. is very aware Canada can and will do what it takes to exert its authority to have the pipeline built.
Conservative natural resources critic Shannon Stubbs, however, says the government has been all talk and no action to this point and fears the government is happy to let the project die.
Kinder Morgan’s proposal to triple the capacity of the Alberta-B.C. pipeline hit a new snag last month when the B.C. government suggested it planned to restrict the flow of additional oil while it studies its oil-spill readiness.
READ: John Horgan won’t retaliate in pipeline feud with Alberta
Carr says all B.C. has done thus far is announce a plan to consult its residents about whether more research is needed, and that nothing has been done that should stop the construction of the $7.4-billion pipeline expansion.
READ: Woman arrested after chaining herself to Kinder Morgan equipment
The Canadian Press