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The senator believes the Senate will pass his proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline Project Act. He said it has the support of senators from across the country, including B.C. Conservative Senator Richard Neufeld, who seconded it. It would have to be approved in the House of Commons too to become law.

The bill offers an option for federal action if there is no progress in discussions with B.C. in the next few weeks, Black said in an interview.

“A foundational piece of this bill is the re-affirmation that we operate under the rule of law,” Black said. “And the subtext of course is that British Columbia is undertaking activities that contravene the rule of law. And in a civilized society, we cannot tolerate that.”

The political chill against the province escalated in the past couple of weeks, after George Heyman, B.C.’s minister of environment and climate change strategy, announced a plan to impose more regulations on bitumen transportation that would impact the already-approved Edmonton-to-Burnaby pipeline expansion.

Alberta’s NDP Premier, Rachel Notley, led the blow-back by shutting down talks to buy B.C. electricity, then by boycotting B.C. wines, then appointing a 19-member task force to come up with further retaliatory steps, if necessary.

“B.C. cannot pretend they are not part of the country,” Notley said. “They don’t get to assume rights that they don’t have. It’s an attack on economic security, and the certainty and well-being of working Albertans and Canadians throughout our energy sector.”