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The Alberta government won’t accept a “charity handout” from Ottawa in lieu of approval of the Teck Frontier mine, Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon said Friday.

Responding to reports that the federal government was planning an aid package for Alberta if the former opts to block the oilsands project, Nixon said the decision on Frontier is not “something to be traded away.”

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“Teck is not a political gift,” he said. “It deserves to be approved on its own merits.”

The federal government has until the end of February to decide whether Teck Resources Ltd. can build the $20.6-billion Frontier mine in northern Alberta despite climate and wildlife concerns.

The looming decision is seen as a test of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2019 election pledge to put Canada on the path to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But after getting shut out of Alberta in the October election, Trudeau’s Liberals have pledged to listen to the province’s concerns surrounding economic troubles in the oil and gas sector.