Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley says she expects Ottawa to approve the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to the west coast by the end of May. In a election campaign stop with energy workers in Edmonton, she said the province is nearer than ever to getting the pipeline. "We are this close, this close to getting that pipeline back under construction," Notley said Monday. "In fact, we expect an approval from the federal government by the end of next month."

The National Energy Board endorsed an expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline on Feb. 22. That started the clock on a 90-day period for the federal government to decide whether the project should proceed. No one from federal Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi's office immediately returned a request for comment, but he has previously said a final decision won't be made until consultations with affected Indigenous groups are complete. Notley said she understands that the federal government is making good progress on those consultations. "It's not like the federal government is calling me up saying, 'Hey, we are going to do this' because they are not and I am not here saying that," said Notley. "What I am telling you is that public opinion is fully behind it, that the recommendations of the NEB have addressed all of the issues ... the position of the industry here and the fact it's paired with an emissions cap in the oilsands — all of these things address all of the critical objections that have been made in the past.