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OTTAWA — In October 2013, then-Liberal leader Justin Trudeau told a room full of oil and gas executives in Calgary that the arms-length National Energy Board had become so politicized under Stephen Harper that it was now “an advisory board to Cabinet.”

It was part of a mantra that he would repeat throughout his election campaign and well into his tenure as prime minister that eroded confidence in Canada’s regulatory approval process: For too long, major energy projects had been rubber stamped despite strong environmental and First Nations’ opposition.

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“Governments may be able to issue permits, but only communities can grant permission,” Trudeau said.

They are words that some argue have come back to haunt him. Trudeau’s government agreed to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline system and the proposed 590,000-barrel-per-day expansion from Calgary-based Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. for $4.5 billion — an extraordinary move to ensure the project would be completed. The pipeline expansion has been delayed by intense opposition from First Nations and local communities along the route.