Indigenous ownership of Trans Mountain must be 'material', prospective bidder says
CTV
As the federal government begins its efforts to sell the Trans Mountain pipeline, the director of one of the groups seeking to buy a stake says nothing less than "material" ownership by Indigenous people is acceptable if Ottawa is serious about reconciliation.
As the federal government begins its efforts to sell the Trans Mountain pipeline, the director of one of the groups seeking to buy a stake says nothing less than "material" ownership by Indigenous people is acceptable if Ottawa is serious about reconciliation.
"It's got to be a minimum of 30 per cent in my view, period. Because anything less than that doesn't really (represent) that place at the table," said Stephen Mason, managing director of Project Reconciliation, in a recent interview.
"There's no reason, in my opinion, why it can't be 100 per cent owned by Indigenous people."
The Trans Mountain pipeline is Canada's only pipeline system that transports oil from Alberta to the West Coast. It is currently owned by the federal government, which bought the pipeline in 2018 to help ensure a planned expansion would be completed after previous owner Kinder Morgan Canada Inc. threatened to scrap the project.
However, Ottawa has been clear from the start that it does not wish to be the long-term owner of the pipeline. With the expansion project now nearing completion, the federal government has launched the first phase of what is expected to be a two-part divestment process.
The first phase involves talks -- which have already begun -- with more than 120 Western Canadian Indigenous communities whose lands are located along the pipeline route, to find out if any of them are interested in acquiring an equity stake.
While it's not clear what size of stake is available during this first phase of negotiations, Mason -- whose group is not participating in the first round -- said he has heard that number could fall between 20 and 40 per cent, and that the federal government will support Indigenous communities with the purchase by helping them to access capital.
