The Trudeau government is often accused of playing to the crowd, of indulging in vacuous “virtue signalling” just to curry popularity.

It can hardly be faulted for that with its decision this week to approve, or rather reapprove, expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline from the Alberta oilsands to the B.C. coast.

On the contrary, the government is getting hammered from both sides: from conservatives who accuse it of secretly trying to sabotage the whole project, and environmentalists who oppose any pipeline, anytime, anywhere.

But as rocky as this road has become, the government is right to persist. This pipeline should be built, or rather expanded. If ever there was a project of this sort that makes sense, Trans Mountain is it.

It’s by far the safest route from the oilsands to the sea, running along the path of a line that has been in place for more than six decades. It would triple the capacity of the line, allowing Alberta’s oil to get to markets in Asia. It would break the monopoly of the U.S. market as the sole buyer for Canadian oil and allow Alberta to sell its product at the world price, instead of heavily discounted domestic prices.

The project has been through a rigorous review process, and after a federal court ruling last year it’s been subject to even more scrutiny. More consultation has been carried out with Indigenous groups and more safeguards put in place against any potential spill from increased tanker traffic in B.C. waters.

And consider the impact if the project had been scrapped. Jobs lost and the message sent that energy projects are pretty much impossible to build in Canada. A chill on the economy and the real prospect of a national unity crisis with Alberta.

All this, of course, is dismissed by environmentalists as of little consequence beside the urgency of addressing climate change, or the climate crisis as many now prefer to call it. Parties with no realistic prospect of actually taking on the responsibility of governing (i.e. the federal NDP and Greens) denounce Justin Trudeau and his government as traitors to their professed environmental goals.

That puts the prime minister, who does prefer to please as many people as possible, in an increasingly awkward position. Indeed, he looked distinctly uneasy as he explained the decision to green-light Trans Mountain at length on Tuesday.

Trudeau need not be so hesitant. He has a strong case for going ahead with expanding Trans Mountain under the conditions that his government (with a big nudge from the courts) have defined.

Trudeau is right that transitioning to a low-carbon economy will take time, and the health of the economy, including the energy economy, cannot be dismissed in the meantime. He’s promising that profits from Trans Mountain will be used to finance that transition, as will any profit from the sale of the line (which we taxpayers have owned since Ottawa took it over last year at a cost of $4.5 billion).

Importantly, too, the government is opening the door to significant Indigenous participation in the project, anything from revenue sharing to equity investment. First Nations people along the route should have the opportunity to share fully in any wealth generated by expanding Trans Mountain.

At the same time, the project should be seen in the context of the government’s overall approach to climate change and the environment.

This was once known as the “grand bargain,” although the bargain has become a lot less grand over time. On the one hand, the government would get a pipeline through the regulatory and political minefields. On the other, it and the provinces would put a price on carbon and Alberta would place a cap on its overall greenhouse gas emissions.

This was going pretty well as long as like-minded governments were in power in key provincial capitals. But even with Doug Ford, Jason Kenney and others scrapping carbon pricing in their backyards, Ottawa can still impose it. And Alberta, so far at least, is sticking with its 100 mega-tonne cap on emissions. Sending oil through a pipeline, rather than by more dangerous rail, to Vancouver won’t increase the province’s carbon footprint.

Of course, all this could still unravel. Indigenous groups, environmentalists and B.C.’s NDP government could still throw obstacles in the way of actually getting the Trans Mountain pipeline built. The project might still be tied up in interminable court battles. Trudeau’s promise to get “shovels in the ground” by the end of this summer may prove illusory.

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And the politics of all this may well not work in the Liberals’ favour. There’s broad public support (even in B.C.) for expanding Trans Mountain, but the support tends to be soft and likely won’t translate into seats. And being pro-pipeline won’t win Trudeau any love in Alberta. If anything, this is probably a loser for the governing party.

It does, however, have the merit of being the right thing to do and the government is going about it largely in the right way. If the Liberals take a hit in October, it will be for a good reason.

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