OTTAWA - Justin Trudeau gave Canada’s controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion a second lease on life Tuesday, framing the decision in starkly political terms that portrayed his Liberal government as best positioned to walk the narrow tightrope between economic development and environmental protection. “Instead, we should take advantage of what we have, and invest the profits in what comes next — building the clean energy future that is already at our doorstep. “They were right.” Critics, of which there are many, wasted little time denouncing the news and predicting another courtroom rejection. “The federal decision to buy the pipeline and become the owner makes it impossible to make an unbiased decision,” said Chief Leah George-Wilson of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation in B.C. While he is sympathetic to concerns about the environment and the need to transition to cleaner sources of energy, Trudeau said Canada needs to take advantage of its natural resources while they are still needed in order to fund that transition.

Source: thestar June 18, 2019 20:47 UTC