EDMONTON—Premier Rachel Notley vowed to pull Alberta out of the national climate plan after the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision put the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project on hold.

“Albertans are angry, I am angry. Alberta has done everything right and we have been let down,” said Notley in a live broadcast address Thursday evening.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier Thursday, Notley said she demanded the federal government immediately launch an appeal, recall an emergency session of Parliament to assert their authority, protect Canada’s coastline, and improve consultation and accommodation of Indigenous people “in the way that they deserve.”

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The court found that the National Energy Board (NEB) did not do enough to consult Indigenous people in its review of the pipeline expansion. Furthermore, the court found that the board “unjustifiably defined the scope of the project under review not to include project-related tanker traffic.”

Notley said Alberta could not continue to adhere to the national climate plan without the approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. Without it, Notley said, “that plan isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

With no access to tidewater to bring Alberta’s oil and gas products to other markets, Canada will be forced to continue to sell to the United States at a discount, losing funds that could be spent on schools and hospitals to “American yachts and private jets,” she said.

“Albertans are angry, I am angry. Alberta has done everything right and we have been let down,” said Premier Rachel Notley in a live broadcast address Thursday evening. (JASON FRANSON / The Canadian Press) Work was ordered to stop at Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline terminal in Sherwood Park, Alta., on Thursday, after the Federal Court of Appeal quashed the pipeline’s approval. (Kevin Maimann / StarMetro Edmonton)

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‘Really bad news for Alberta’: Court loss for Trans Mountain ripples across oil country

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Who are the players behind pivotal win for Trans Mountain pipeline opponents?

Federal Court of Appeal quashes Trans Mountain approval, calling it ‘unjustified failure,’ in win for First Nations, environmentalists

Notley told media gathered at the Alberta Legislature that once the carbon price goes up to $40 per tonne, Alberta would pull out. The province’s willingness to stay part of the plan was contingent on the Trans Mountain pipeline being built, she said. The carbon pricing plan is expected to go up to $50 per tonne by 2022.

The carbon price in the national climate plan isn’t expected to go up to $40 for another couple years, but Notley said, “They know, come two years from now, they’re losing another ally.”

She said it’s not an immediate consequence, but “it sends a very, very strong message.”

“No one in Canada should accept that the only way to sell Canada’s resources is through the U.S.,” she said. “No other country on Earth would accept this and Canada shouldn’t, either, especially when we are doing it to ourselves. It is ridiculous.”

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Notley didn’t say what her options would be if the Canadian government forced the climate plan on the province once it stopped participating at $40 per tonne, but that she’d explore them when the time came.

When asked if she would cut off oil to the east or the west of the country, Notley said she would “see how things unfold.”

Politicians across Alberta condemned the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision, which quashed the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project and sent shockwaves throughout the province.

Environmentalists and First Nations heralded the decision as a major win. The ruling means the National Energy Board will have to redo its review of Kinder Morgan Canada’s project if the federal government decides not to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney, speaking to media outside the Blackfoot Diner in Calgary, said he didn’t blame the provincial NDP or the Canadian government, but slammed the decision by the court.

“Decisions like this have massive impacts on people’s lives, ordinary people’s livelihoods,” he said. “People are gonna lose their jobs.”

The federal government, which owns the Trans Mountain pipeline, has two options, according to experts who have weighed in on the decision. They can appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada or they can re-engage in the consultation process with Indigenous and First Nations peoples. Until one of those two processes is complete, no work can be completed on the government-owned pipeline.

Kenney asked that the federal government appeal the decision and called on Alberta’s NDP to withdraw the carbon tax.

“It’s made the cost of everything higher, but it’s done nothing to get us the so-called social licence,” he said, adding that this is another example of a failed pipeline after citing Northern Gateway and Energy East.

When asked about feelings concerning Alberta’s place in Canada, he said he was at a meeting earlier in the day with energy sector leaders who voiced sentiments that they felt alienated.

“This undermines national unity,” said Kenney. “I’m never gonna give up on Canada, but those of us who believe in the promise of the federation rule of law — this is a bad day for us.”

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson also addressed media at City Hall on Thursday, saying “this project is too important, not just to Edmonton or Alberta, but too important to this country, to just give up at this point.”

However, he also said Alberta needs to invest in “innovation and economic growth” so that the economy is less susceptible to outcomes such as the court’s decision.

“This is a tough morning for a lot of businesses and a lot of workers in Edmonton, no doubt. And everybody else who doesn’t work directly in those spaces understands how important this project is to our overall economy,” he said. “It’s a setback, no doubt, but I don’t think anyone is going to be interested in giving up.”

The Canadian Liberal government and Alberta’s NDP government have been pushing for the pipeline to go through for years, but Vancouver, Burnaby and B.C.’s provincial government, along with First Nations and environmental groups, have been steadfast in opposing it.

The cases brought to the court were from more than a dozen First Nations, municipal governments and environmental organizations looking to overturn the federal government’s decision to expand the pipeline.

With files from Madeline Smith, Hamdi Issawi and The Canadian Press