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Manitoba premier concerned by escalation of bitumen battle between B.C. and Alberta

Click to play video: 'Alberta announces it’s boycotting B.C. wine over bitumen battle'
Alberta announces it’s boycotting B.C. wine over bitumen battle
WATCH ABOVE: On Feb. 6, 2018, Tom Vernon filed this report after Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced her province is boycotting B.C. wine in response to that province's proposed ban on increased shipments of bitumen. – Feb 6, 2018

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says increasing regional tensions and economic uncertainty over the future of the Trans Mountain pipeline project should be defused as quickly as possible.

Pallister’s comment comes one day after the Alberta government announced it’s banning wine from British Columbia because of B.C.’s plans to limit how much diluted bitumen can be shipped from its coast.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister speaks to media at an embargoed press conference before the provincial throne speech at the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg, Tuesday, November 21, 2017. Pallister says increasing regional tensions and economic uncertainty over the future of the Trans Mountain pipeline project should be defused as quickly as possible. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Pallister says in a statement that he has promoted open trade among the provinces and he’s concerned about the controversy in the energy sector and the resulting provocation and threats at the provincial level.

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READ MORE: ‘This is a fight between B.C. and the rest of Canada’: Alberta not backing down on B.C. wine boycott

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Watch below: Some videos about the escalating tension between Alberta and B.C. over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.

He notes that both the National Energy Board and the federal cabinet approved Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in 2016 after determining it was in Canada’s national interest.

Notley conceded on Tuesday that the ban on B.C. wine may violate interprovincial free-trade rules, but said Alberta is moving ahead anyway.

B.C. Premier John Horgan has said the issue is about his government’s responsibility to keep the coastline and inland waterways safe.

“This uncertainty is decidedly unhelpful to economic development in Western Canada and for the general well-being of the Canadian federation,” said Pallister’s statement Wednesday.

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“Whether it’s a pipeline or a transmission line, markets and investors need certainty. They don’t react well to either overlapping processes or backward steps.”

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