No carbon cuts or ocean protection without pipeline, Trudeau says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to bridge the dividebetween Alberta and British Columbia on Friday with a vow that climate change and spill protection programs won't go ahead unlessthe Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion is built.

Trudeau, speaking withOn the Island host Gregor Craigie ahead ofthe last stop on his cross-country town hall tour in Nanaimo, reiterated the assurance he made on his stop the day before in Edmonton that the Trans Mountainproject will go ahead.

But he added that the pipeline expansionand the two key environmental programs sought by B.C. are a package deal.

"The only way we can get any of those things is if we do all three of those things together," Trudeau said.

"As I've said for a long time, we need to make sure we're both protecting the environment and growing the economy at the same time."

Alberta's NDPPremier Rachel Notley has threateneda constitutional battle and suspension of negotiations with B.C. over electricity sales in retaliation for the B.C. government'splans totemporarily restrict the shipment of diluted bitumen.

B.C. Environment Minister George Heymanannounced the proposed ban onincreased bitumin shipments Tuesday.

He said the purpose wasto allow wide consultation on environmental risks and response in the event of a large spill of diluted bitumen from the impendingtwinning ofthe Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby, B.C.,and the expected increase in tanker traffic that would follow.

"The issue we have is, if we don't move forward in getting our resources over to markets overseas in safe and secure ways, the rest of the plan no longer holds," Trudeau said.

"We won't get the Oceans Protection Plan investments. We won't get a national price on carbon and we would never meet our Paris targets [on reducing carbon emissions]."

Defends NEB review process

Amid reports that the prime ministerin the comingdaysis set to announce changes to howenergy projectsare approved through the National Energy Board, Trudeau insisted the NEB review for theTrans Mountain pipeline twinning wasthorough.

"The decision we took was based on science and evidence on extensive consultation with communities," he said, adding that dozens of First Nations have given support to the project, though others have not.

"As I've said many times:communities grant permission, it's not just governments that grant permits."

On the Island political panellist Martyn Brown, who was chief of staff toformer B.C. premier Gordon Campbell, called the prime minister's handlingof the B.C. pipeline decision "duplicitous and disingenuous from the outset."

"The prime minister ran on the promise that the Kinder Morgan project was subject to a National Energy Board process that was faulty and flawed," Brown said. "Henever acted tocorrect that fundamentally."

He said is it outrageous that Trudeau insists the pipeline project will go ahead despite the pending court challenge by B.C. First Nations and others.

With files from CBCRadio On the Island