VANCOUVER / UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ TERRITORIES — Following incoming President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will sign an executive order to cancel permits for the Keystone XL pipeline, the Wilderness Committee is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to cancel the Trans Mountain expansion.

“Today Biden is showing us what real climate leadership looks like,” said Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney. “If Trudeau wants to be the climate warrior he pretends to be, he needs to walk away from the Trans Mountain pipeline.”

Two federal government reports confirm the Trans Mountain pipeline is in direct conflict with Trudeau’s own climate goals. In November, the Canadian Energy Regulator released a report showing Keystone XL and Trans Mountain would both be unnecessary if the country even tries to meet its climate targets, let alone more ambitious plans for net-zero emissions. Weeks later a report from the Parliamentary Budget Office confirmed new climate policies, like the ones the Liberal government recently introduced, would make the project a waste of Canadians’ money.

“Trudeau’s own advisors are now telling him that his own climate plan makes the pipeline he bought a losing bet,” said McCartney. “It’s time for the federal government to admit it was a terrible idea to buy Trans Mountain and abandon the project while they still can.”

Despite repeated claims from the federal government that policies like a rising carbon tax made pipelines fit within Canada’s climate plan, they were clearly unable to convince the incoming American administration.

“I am appalled that our prime minister used his first call with the new American president to push for pipelines on behalf of Big Oil,” said McCartney. “Biden and his team have clearly heard Canada’s sales pitch and they’re literally not buying what we’re selling. Canadians shouldn’t fall for this tired routine either.”

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For more information, please contact:

Peter McCartney | Climate Campaigner
778-239-1935, peter@wildernesscommittee.org