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CALGARY — Canada’s decision to buy Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd’s Trans Mountain pipeline was brought about by a “particularly problematic” situation and is not a symbol of how things get done in the country, the finance minister said on Wednesday.

Canada on Tuesday agreed to buy the pipeline for $4.5 billion (US$3.5 billion) in an effort to save a project that faces formidable opposition from environmentalists and British Columbia officials worried the pipeline could spill its heavy oil.

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Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the decision was exceptional and that the rule of law needs to be seen as a business advantage to investing in Canada.

“We don’t see this as a symbol of the way to get things done in this country,” Morneau told a business audience in Calgary, home to Canada’s energy industry. He was briefly interrupted by several anti-pipeline protesters.

But Perrin Beatty, chief executive of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the government needs to revamp the “badly broken” regulatory system for major energy projects. He said the Liberal government’s planned reforms are not sufficient to preclude the repeat of another situation like Trans Mountain.