Finance Canada is defending its $10 billion loan guarantee for Trans Mountain to help the company finish its pipeline expansion after opposition parties and environmental groups called it a fossil fuel subsidy.
This financial support comes after the government said in February that no more public money would be poured into the project.
“This is a common practice which puts in place an insurance policy for the institutions that have invested in the project—it does not reflect any new public spending,” a news release from Finance Canada said. “The Government of Canada has not spent any money to put this guarantee in place.”
On Parliament Hill, CBC journalists asked Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland several times about the new federal support for Trans Mountain. The minister didn’t stop to answer questions.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland passes reporters as she arrives for a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
In February, Freeland announced the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project’s costs had nearly tripled from its initial $7.4 billion price tag — which then-owner Kinder Morgan projected in 2018 — to $21.4 billion.
“I want to assure Canadians that there will be no additional public money invested in (Trans Mountain),” Freeland said at the time.
“(Trans Mountain) will secure the necessary funding to complete the project through third-party financing, either in the public debt markets or with financial institutions.”
Ottawa provided bridge financing to pipeline in December
On Wednesday, Finance Canada confirmed Trans Mountain has “now secured up to $10 billion in third-party financing with a group of Canadian financial institutions.”
The statement didn’t say which institutions are funding the pipeline’s completion, but it does say Trans Mountain will pay a fee to the government for the loan guarantee.
The statement also said Ottawa provided $1.75 billion in “bridge financing” in December to ensure construction remained on schedule. Finance Canada said in its statement that the loan “has been repaid in full with interest.”
Reached for comment, Trans Mountain referred CBC back to the government’s statement.
After news about the loan guarantee broke, opposition parties attacked the federal government for continuing to financially support a Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project that is now over-budget and running late.
“This government has done a terrible job,” said Kyle Seeback, the Conservative environment critic. “They don’t do the hard work of figuring out what these things cost.”
“This is another subsidy to the oil and gas industry when this government says they are planning on moving away,” said Green Party MP Mike Morrice said.
Environmental groups called the loan guarantee a subsidy, citing the World Trade Organization’s definition of the word.
“This is a continuation of our government propping up this project that is no longer financially viable,” said Sven Biggs, Canadian oil and gas program director for Stand.earth.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which has done financial analysis of the pipeline, said the TMX project hasn’t attracted private sector investment and must depend on government support to continue.
“Understanding the actual economics of the project, you realize that the only way that this project can be funded is … through debt. And the debt has to be backed by the Canadian government,” said Omar Mawji, an energy finance analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
The twinning of the 1,150 kilometre-long Trans Mountain pipeline will nearly triple its capacity to an estimated 890,000 barrels a day and crude oil-carrying tanker traffic from the Westridge Marine Terminal could increase from about three vessels a month to one a day. (CBC)
Construction of the Trans Mountain expansion is expected to be completed by June 30, 2023, nine months behind the revised schedule. The pipeline was supposed to be finished by Sept 30, 2022.
The pipeline won’t start shipping oil until the Canadian Energy Regulator gives it final permission to operate. Trans Mountain said the pipeline won’t see its first revenue until Sept. 30, 2023.
As of April, the project was close to 50 per cent complete. When it’s finished, it will increase the pipeline’s output from about 300,000 barrels a day to roughly 890,000.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
