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Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS

“That is where Premier Horgan has the very real conflict and we agree with him on that.”

It was left to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna to try to square the circle of the federal approach to pipelines and climate change.

On her way into the retreat, she said the forest fires “demonstrate that climate change is having a real impact on Canadians.”

“This summer is a wake-up call. We’ve seen extreme weather, we’ve seen extreme heat that is literally costing lives, we’ve seen here forest fires, we’ve seen extreme flooding,” she said.

“We know we need to be taking serious action on climate change and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” she added, touting the federal plan to put a price on carbon, phase out coal and make historic investments in green infrastructure and climate adaptation.

That said, McKenna said the country is in a transition from its reliance on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

“Transitions do not happen overnight,” she said. “I’ve always said I’m the environment minister for energy workers as much as environmentalists.”

Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS

The pipeline protesters were joined by some federal public sector workers who complained bitterly about the Phoenix pay system fiasco, in which thousands of public servants have been overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all.

“We have a message for the prime minister and his cabinet,” Public Service Alliance of Canada president Chris Aylward told the crowd.

“You start showing respect to federal public sector workers or you will pay in October of 2019.”

For all the noise outside the cabinet retreat, Liberal insiders say their party’s internal polling suggests British Columbians are divided over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Moreover, they say their polling suggests that all seven ridings on Vancouver Island — six currently held by the NDP, one by Green party Leader Elizabeth May — could be up for grabs in next year’s federal election.