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Alberta politicians are blasting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after he talked of phasing out the oilsands on Friday.

Asked at a town hall event in Ontario about the federal government’s recent approval of expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, Trudeau reiterated his remarks that he is attempting to balance economic and environmental concerns.

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“We can’t shut down the oilsands tomorrow. We need to phase them out. We need to manage the transition off of our dependence on fossil fuels but it’s going to take time and in the meantime we have to manage that transition,” he said in Peterborough.

Trudeau — who will be in Calgary for a cabinet retreat on Jan. 23 and 24 — also said again that it is the responsibility of the national government to get Canadian resources to market.

But Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said Trudeau’s remarks were a “direct attack” on Alberta.

“By vowing to ‘phase out’ the oil sands, Mr. Trudeau has declared his true feelings towards our province, and Western Canada as a whole,” said Jean.