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Notley says "failure not an option" for Trans Mountain

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley speaks at a news conference in Edmonton on Thursday August 30, 2018. Notley says she's pulling the province out of the federal climate change plan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said at a conference today that the province is still out of the federal government’s climate change plan.

Notley pulled out of the plan, which mandates putting a price on carbon emissions, after the Federal Court of Appeal overturned approval of the Trans Mountain expansion project.

She said the province won’t rejoin the plan because “Albertans can’t pay more to support the plan if they can’t afford to pay it,” until the pipeline is approved.

Notley said that since thousands of jobs are on the line, as well as Canada’s economic future that failure is not an option.

“We will campaign like never before to continue our work to winning the hearts and minds of Canadians. A fight we’re already winning.”

She says Alberta will hold the federal government’s feet to the fire, but wouldn’t say how the province will do that.

The federal government has given the National Energy Board 22 weeks to redo its environmental review of the pipeline and examine the impact of additional oil tanker traffic off the coast of British Columbia.

“The regulatory timeline laid out today is actually reasonable and is in line with what we knew was the best case scenario when the federal court ruled earlier this month.”

She said that if the timeline starts to shift, she knows that the voice of Albertans will be loud, adding that her government will not tolerate legal game playing.

 

 

*With files from the Canadian Press