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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley responded by threatening legal action, cancelling talks to buy electricity from B.C. and then, most recently on Tuesday, banning imports of B.C. wine.

Politically, Notley needs the pipeline built to have any hope of re-election next year; B.C. Premier John Horgan campaigned on a promise to kill it off. His minority government’s tenuous grip on power depends on keeping the Green party happy — which means Horgan can’t back down.

Pressure is mounting on Trudeau to step into the dispute.

Trudeau’s positive words of support for the Trans Mountain pipeline are all well and good, but at some point he will have to do more, said Kinder Morgan CEO Ian Anderson.

“I’m expecting the federal government to help solve this dispute between the provinces. I think there’s a role there for them,” Anderson said.

“I think that asserting their federal jurisdiction in whatever manner they determine is most effective and most appropriate is something I’ll be looking for, so that we get past the words of support to the actions of support that we’re all chasing hard.”

Trudeau and the Liberals haven’t shown any evidence they’ve done anything to urge the project along, said Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. The government said it would not tolerate undue delays, but no one knows what that means or what the government is prepared to do, he noted.

Canada’s constitution gives Ottawa jurisdiction over interprovincial infrastructure like pipelines, so the federal government has the authority to move things along, said Scheer — but it looks as if Trudeau doesn’t actually want that to happen.