Poilievre says he'd get pipelines built if elected prime minister

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says if he becomes prime minister, he’ll repeal a controversial law the Trudeau Liberal government passed that critics blame for cancelling the massive Energy East pipeline project.

At a tightly controlled campaign-type stop in Saint John on Friday, the national leader chose as a backdrop the Ultramar gas station near Courtenay Bay that is only a couple of kilometres west of the Irving Oil refinery, where a proposed pipeline would have accepted crude oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Instead, TransCanada scuttled the 4,500-km pipeline project in 2017.

“It’s insane that we are here in Saint John, importing 130,000 barrels of Saudi Arabian oil at the same time as our western producers are blocked from selling their product to other Canadians,” Poilievre told reporters, before turning his sights on his favourite target, the prime minister.

“Justin Trudeau killed the Energy East pipeline, his Liberal New Brunswick MPs helped him kill it, they did nothing to champion the jobs of New Brunswickers or western Canadians.”

He said a future Conservative government would repeal the Impact Assessment Act, which forces regulators to consider the environmental and social impacts of resources projects such as pipelines and natural gas plants, and replace it with a new law “that protects the environment, consults First Nations but gets things built.”

The Conservative leader did not directly answer a Brunswick News question whether he thought Energy East could be revived and if so, what he’d do as prime minister to get it done.

Justin Trudeau has a pro-Putin energy policy.

Pierre Poilievre

His handlers did not allow reporters to ask follow-up questions and they only got five questions in. Several journalists didn’t get to ask anything.

“Today if we had the Energy East pipeline, we could pump western petroleum, put it on a ship, send it to Europe, break European dependence on Putin,” Poilievre said about the Russian strongman, president Vladimir Putin. “Justin Trudeau has a pro-Putin energy policy. He’s blocked natural gas liquefaction projects and the Energy East pipeline which would have allowed Europeans to power their economy with clean, Canadian energy rather than dirty Russian oil and gas.”

Liberal MP Wayne Long, whose riding includes the refinery, said the idea that Poilievre could revive the Energy East project was laughable.

“He should ask his own Quebec MPs what they think. I know many of them, and they are certainly not in favour of a pipeline going through their province. He should ask the premier of Quebec what he thinks. You know I lived this with their former leader, Andrew Scheer. Erin O’Toole, when he took over, he kind of figured it out. But the issue I have with what Poilievre says is there’s no substance. It’s all sound bites and rage farming. He offers very few solutions.”

The Conservative leader’s main aim on Friday was to promote his campaign spelled out on signs and promotional materials at the event: “Axe the Tax” on carbon pricing that’s meant to persuade consumers to cut back on products that produce greenhouse gas emissions and endanger the planet, and to “Spike the Hike,” as the carbon tax is set to increase April 1, part of a suite of measures passed by the Liberals to make sure Canada does its part to stop global warming.

Poilievre said he’d get rid of carbon taxes altogether to make life more affordable for Canadians, blaming higher fuel prices for more expensive groceries and other essentials.

He also said he could make electricity more affordable by encouraging utilities like NB Power to transition from using coal at the Belledune Generating Station in northern New Brunswick to natural gas, calling it a cleaner fuel. Right now, the plan is to convert Belledune by 2030 to burning scraps from the wood-cutting industry.

The Conservative leader lauded Tory Premier Blaine Higgs for supporting his Axe the Tax campaign and warned people not to vote for the opposition Liberals in the upcoming provincial election, expected in October, warning they were after people’s wallets.

Long argued there was no substance to Poilievre’s promises.

Getting rid of the April 1 carbon tax increase, he pointed out, would only drop the price at the pumps by three cents a litre.

There are many things that have had an impact on affordability, and anybody who thinks it’s just the carbon tax needs to shake their head.

Wayne Long

The Saint John-Rothesay MP said the Liberals’ biggest failure was how poorly they had explained how carbon taxes and their rebate system work. Consumers are supposed to be incentivized to use less gas when they pay more at the pump, but all that carbon tax money is eventually returned to New Brunswickers via rebate cheques. Those who used less fuel come out ahead.

“There’s worldwide inflation, an after-effect of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine,” Long said. “There are many things that have had an impact on affordability, and anybody who thinks it’s just the carbon tax needs to shake their head. I go back and forth to Ottawa, and most times regular gas is 30 cents cheaper in Ottawa. They have a carbon tax. Ask yourself why. Is it the regulatory system we have? Is it Premier Blaine Higgs taking his cut?”

On Friday, GasBuddy.com said the average price of regular gas in Ontario was $1.50 a litre. In New Brunswick, it was closer to $1.61.

Poilievre started the day at a private meeting with workers at the JessEm Tool Company in Moncton, followed by his pit stop at the Saint John Ultramar. In the evening, he was the keynote speaker at a fundraising dinner for the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick, a soiree billed as the Leader’s Dinner with Blaine Higgs and Pierre Poilievre.

Individual tickets were $600 for the dinner, or $800 for the dinner and pre-dinner reception with Tory MLAs.

Brunswick News asked to attend the event, but it was barred to reporters.