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Bill ‘sends a clear message’

Premier Rachel Notley said at a Monday news conference the legislation won’t be used immediately. In fact, she’s confident it won’t have to be used at all.

The tipping point will be May 31. That’s the deadline Kinder Morgan Inc. identified when it announced last week it was halting all non-essential spending on the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.

If the future of the project continues to look bleak, Notley said, that’s when her government might look to the legislation. In short, it will be there if Alberta needs it.

“This bill sends a clear message,” she said. “We will use every tool at our disposal to defend Albertans.”

United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney told reporters Monday he supports the goal of the bill, but worries it’s more about political optics than taking action.

His party is still examining the details, but he said it will likely propose adding a sunset clause.

“We don’t want to be on an economic war footing forever in the future,” Kenney said.

Kenney said it’s inevitable that B.C. will take retaliatory measures — “that’s the nature of a trade war,” he said — but thinks Alberta has more leverage.

Pressuring B.C.

The bill comes on the heels of a Sunday meeting in Ottawa between Notley, B.C. Premier John Horgan and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

At that meeting, Trudeau said he’d asked his finance minister to enter negotiations with Kinder Morgan to “remove the uncertainty” hanging over the project.