NDP leadership contender Charlie Angus isn’t ruling out his support for future oil pipelines, but says new resource projects should only go ahead if they are approved under a more robust environmental review system that properly consults Indigenous communities and doesn’t make Canada miss its emissions targets.

“The fact is, without social licence, projects are not going to go ahead,” Angus said Monday during a meeting with the Star’s editorial board.

The veteran MP from northern Ontario did not say Indigenous communities should have a veto over resource projects, such as oil pipelines. But he said it is up to the government to ensure projects have their support.

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“Industry understands that they need social licence on the ground,” Angus said when asked about veto rights on resource projects.

“If government was at the table the way industry has been at the table, we would probably be in a much different position than we are right now.

“So — the bigger the project, the more the risk, the more the social licence. That’s how it’s going to work out.”

Oil pipelines have become a divisive issue in the national NDP, with factions of the party that govern in British Columbia and Alberta holding opposing viewpoints on the $7.4 billion Trans Mountain expansion project that the Liberal government approved last year.

Angus, like each of his rivals in the race to lead the federal party, is against Trans Mountain as it stands now. Quebec MP Guy Caron and Ontario MPP Jagmeet Singh have taken similar positions; they would back pipelines only with the consent of Indigenous communities and after the National Energy Board review process is revamped.

Niki Ashton, a Manitoba MP also in the running, takes credit for calling on her opponents to take a stand against the Trans Mountain and Energy East projects. She has vowed to block new pipelines and ensure Indigenous peoples have a veto over projects in their territory.

In his meeting with the Star’s editorial board Monday morning, Angus discussed his plan for the environment which includes a legislated cap on greenhouse gas emissions to make sure Canada actually meets its targets under the international Paris climate accord.

The current targets, which were set by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government and kept by the current Liberals, aren’t strict enough, Angus said. But he wants to create an independent board of experts to set Canada’s target and then pass a law that would bind industries to certain emissions caps.

It is that regime, combined with better environmental reviews and consultation with Indigenous peoples and affected communities, that would determine which resource projects Angus would support.

“Even in a low-carbon future, we need copper, we need aluminum. The Ring of Fire (mineral) project will still be needed. And we will need oil,” he said.

“We have to talk about transportation. Certainly trains are a very — I think — unwise way to move heavy bitumen, particularly since they move through so many urban areas. So we have to look at the review process.”

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Angus has worked as the NDP’s critic for Indigenous Affairs and says the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Department represents a “broken system” that needs to be dismantled. He also called for an audit of spending in areas such as health and education to get an exact idea of the shortfalls for Indigenous communities.

The inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, which is plagued by delays and opposition from affected families, should also be restarted — perhaps with new commissioners leading the way — and should include a probe of police conduct in past cases, he said.

And he quibbled with the Trudeau government’s claim to be working for the “middle class,” and argued that he sees a “new working class” of white-collar workers making low wages in contract jobs who have trouble paying the bills.

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