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Legislation to push the project ahead remains an option, he said, without elaborating. The federal government, along with Alberta, are considering financial support for the project, which would almost triple capacity on a line that ends in a terminal near Vancouver.

“I’m confident there will be a solution,” Carr said.

That solution shouldn’t count on local opposition giving way, according to Robertson, whose decade-long tenure as mayor ends in October.

“I don’t think the resistance on the west coast is going to fade — I think it will only intensify,” he said. “Escalation looks likely.”

A Nanos Research poll released this week indicated that while six in 10 Canadians want the project to proceed, an equal proportion are concerned that the dispute challenges how Canada functions as a federation. Alberta has threatened trade sanctions against B.C., arguing that the pipeline bottleneck is costing Canada about $15 billion a year in discounted crude.

Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

For Robertson, 53, who presides over a city of 600,000 people where half the population takes transit, walks or rides a bike to work, the issue goes beyond a single pipeline in the fight against global warming.

“I think there’s a much bigger question here,” Robertson said. “We have to get off of fossil fuels. It’s really a question of how we implement that transition.”

Alberta’s oil and gas sector “represents such a tiny fraction of the overall economy and a job count,” whereas cities like Vancouver and Toronto are driven by newer technology and innovation-related sectors, he said.

The most strident opposition to the project has been centred in Vancouver and Victoria, according to polls. Several indigenous groups have also voiced their opposition, though there is broad support in B.C. outside the two urban centres. Two MPs were arrested in March for defying a court injunction banning protesters from disrupting construction at Kinder Morgan’s facility near Vancouver.

Asked if he was ready to be arrested to halt the project, Robertson said, “Potentially.”

“But I’d much rather see things de-escalate and cooler heads prevail, which is why I haven’t — yet,” he said.