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If you’re buying Trans Mountain, where’s your backing for Energy East: Raitt

OTTAWA — The federal Conservatives say if the Liberals are willing to put up billions of dollars to save the Trans Mountain pipeline to the West Coast, they should be willing to provide the same level of certainty to revive the Energy East line to the East Coast.
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OTTAWA — The federal Conservatives say if the Liberals are willing to put up billions of dollars to save the Trans Mountain pipeline to the West Coast, they should be willing to provide the same level of certainty to revive the Energy East line to the East Coast.

Opposition parties are sharpening their attacks on the government’s decision to buy Trans Mountain for $4.5 billion to ensure it gets built, with the Conservatives looking to see how far the government is willing to go on other pipelines and the NDP arguing the Liberals have completely abandoned their environmental principles.

Conservative MP Lisa Raitt says the government seems to take for granted the 32 seats it won in Atlantic Canada in the last election, since it is willing to give certainty to Trans Mountain but didn’t step in to save Energy East when TransCanada pulled the plug on that project last fall.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Energy East is “old news” and the Conservatives are just embarrassed that they couldn’t get pipelines built when they were in government.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in the meantime says he understands the frustration of those who are planning to protest hard against the Trans Mountain pipeline and while he condemns any violence, he will not instruct his caucus or anyone else on what limits should be placed on protesters breaking the law to stand up for what they believe in.

Singh says there is a long tradition of non-violent civil disobedience in Canada and he will not condemn people who use protests to express their frustration and anger.