OTTAWA—Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi says the federal government won’t consider selling the Trans Mountain oil pipeline until it clears the way for the expansion project that was quashed by a high-level court last summer.

The Liberal government may eventually sell the pipeline it bought from Texas oil company Kinder Morgan for $4.5 billion, but right now the focus is on addressing the reasons approval for the line’s expansion project was blocked by the Federal Court of Appeal, Sohi told the Star on Wednesday.

Sohi made the comments as members of an organization representing oil- and gas-producing First Nations gathered in Calgary to discuss whether to try and buy the 1,100-km pipeline that carries Alberta bitumen from near Edmonton to the coast of British Columbia.

The expansion project — a proposal that has sparked opposition from several Indigenous groups and environmentalists along the pipeline route — would see a new line built roughly beside the existing one, thus tripling the carrying capacity of the Trans Mountain infrastructure and increasing oil tanker traffic through Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet from five ships per month to more than 30.

“The transfer of this project to the private sector may happen sometime in the future, if the issues that have been identified by the federal court have been resolved,” Sohi said.

“At this time our primary focus is to respond to the issues the court has identified, and our focus is to respond to those issues in the most focused and efficient way.”

The Federal Court of Appeal quashed the cabinet decision to approve the Trans Mountain expansion project in a ruling published last Aug. 30. The court said the National Energy Board failed to consider the impacts of increased tanker traffic off the B.C. coast, and that the federal government fell short on its duty to have a meaningful, two-way dialogue with Indigenous communities affected by the project.

In response, the Trudeau government launched a new round of consultations with 117 First Nations and Indigenous groups that started in December. It also gave the National Energy Board until Feb. 22 to review how increased oil tanker traffic would affect marine life like B.C.’s endangered southern resident killer whale population.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government would be open to having Indigenous groups take a stake in the pipeline but said for now, Ottawa is focused on getting the expansion underway.

“We welcome those discussions. We’re not having those discussions right now,” Morneau said about potential ownership stakes.

“Our view is that the potential for Indigenous peoples to be engaged could be positive for Indigenous peoples, could be positive for the pipeline, could be positive for Canadians,” he told reporters at a cabinet retreat in Sherbrooke, Que.

“Those discussions would be appropriately held with Indigenous peoples as well as other potential owners because we’ve said this is not going be a pipeline that is going to be owned over the long term by the federal government,” Morneau said.

Last week, the NEB published draft recommendations that included requirements for government to create a marine mammal protection program, a coastal bird monitoring scheme, and measures to offset underwater noise and the risk of ship strikes on whales.

Sohi said he would wait for the NEB’s final recommendations before commenting, but pointed to measures to increase shipping safety and environmental protections under the Liberal government’s Oceans Protection Plan.

While Conservatives have demanded to know when construction for the expansion will begin, Sohi wouldn’t give a firm date. He said the government must ensure it responds to the court’s concerns about the project in a way that allows it to move forward.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and others have argued the expansion is essential to increasing Canada’s capacity to move oil to new markets for better prices.

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“Getting our resources to global markets and reducing our dependence on the U.S. is a very important objective,” Sohi said.

“We need to do it in a way that can stand with the test of the day.”

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