Federal Liberals to reinforce Trans Mountain pipeline support with B.C.

Canada's Liberal government will make clear its support of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion when it meets with the newly elected government of B.C., the country's natural resources minister said Thursday.

But Jim Carr said it first must be established who won the election on Monday. The results appear to hand Liberal Leader Christy Clark a minority government, but this could change with counts of absentee ballots and recounts.

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The results won't change the federal government's support for the project, Carr told reporters.

"We will be very interested in sitting down with therepresentatives from the government to talk about a whole range of issues," he said. "But... after having gone through rigorous environmental and other reviews,the government of Canada has not changed its support for the project."

A total of 43 members of Clark's party were elected, one seat short of a majority.

The NDP won 41 seats and the Green Party three. Both have said they oppose the Trans Mountain expansion and, if they act together, could potentially try to derail it.

At an event in Calgary, Carr says the pipeline received conditional federal approval after "very rigorous review" and he continues to believe it is in the national interest as a job creator and means to export Alberta crude to Asian markets.

He wouldn't say whether he thought the pipeline's prospects of being built were put at risk by the B.C. election results.