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VICTORIA — The long weekend saw another outbreak of hostilities between the country’s two New Democratic Party governments over the proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

It began innocently with B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan telling reporters, in advance of Tuesday’s gathering of the western premiers in Yellowknife, that he was looking forward to meeting with his Alberta NDP counterpart, Rachel Notley.

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“We have a disagreement on one issue,” said Horgan. “Our values are in lockstep. We have been friends for 20 years.”

He also recounted to Postmedia’s Rob Shaw how in 2015 he’d travelled all the way to Edmonton for Notley’s swearing-in ceremony, characterizing it as “one of the happiest days I can remember.”

But the Alberta premier was not of a mind to be charmed.

On Monday afternoon Notley announced she would sit out the Western Premiers conference, preferring to devote full attention to the looming deadline regarding the fate of the pipeline project.