Liberal candidate Ahmed Yousef says he does not support the Trans Mountain pipeline, despite the Liberal government’s decision to buy the project in 2018.
Yousef, who is the Liberal candidate in Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge, made the comments at an all candidates debate, which was published on YouTube Sept. 9. The video was provided to Global News by a source from the Conservative campaign.
“Here in B.C., our collective position is in opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline, myself included,” Yousef said.
“I would certainly ensure that the leadership and the party answers for that, as well as, of course, ensuring that subsidies to fossil fuels are cut.”
The Liberal government bought the the Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5 billion in 2018, during its first term in office. If completed, the project could carry tens of millions of barrels a month of Alberta bitumen across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast.
Global News emailed the Liberal Party for their reaction to the candidates’ stance on the pipeline — but in their response, the Liberals did not directly address Yousef’s comments.
“Construction is underway and thousands of good jobs for workers have already been created as a result. It was never our intention to be the long-term owner of Trans Mountain Corporation,” wrote Liberal Party spokesperson Alex Wellstead in an emailed statement.
“We will pursue a divestment process after the expansion project is further de-risked, and after engagement with First Nations and Metis groups is complete.
He added that the Liberals have already committed “more than $53 billion since September of 2020 to a green recovery.”
“That includes investments in public transit, renewable energy, nature-based climate solutions and retrofits. Any profit from the pipeline will be used for investments in clean growth,” he said.
During last week’s federal leaders’ debates, the pipeline was a hotly contested topic — forcing Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to go on the defensive.
When pressed on whether he’d quash the project if he’s re-elected, Trudeau said he’d keep the yet-to-be-finished pipeline expansion open until “we don’t need it anymore.”
He also said there are Indigenous groups that would like to buy the pipeline from the government and who are interested in operating it.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, meanwhile, said he’s “always been opposed” to the project — however, he, too, refused to say whether he’d terminate the pipeline if he becomes prime minister.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole had a very different message during the English debate, when he said that people in Western Canada deserve an economic recovery that includes fossil fuels — and his party later warned that every barrel of oil not produced in Canada is a barrel of oil that Saudi Arabia, Venezuela or Russia will make.
“We have to recognize that Canadian energy is an environmental and social leader in comparison with other energy producers,” Conservative Party spokesperson Mathew Clancy said in a written statement sent to Global News on Tuesday.
“Over time, as we see a lower carbon future, we should make sure that democratic countries use Canadian resources and not resources from Saudi Arabia or Venezuela or Russia.”
— with files from Global News’ Brian Hill
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