Tell the Canadian government to come clean on Trans Mountain

A new report from West Coast Environmental Law shows that the Canadian government is using corporate shells and accounting wizardry to deliberately mislead the public of the Trans Mountain pipeline’s commercial viability.

In doing so, the government has hidden two important truths: 1) they are prepared to forgive $17 billion of Trans Mountain’s debt, loaned by Canadian taxpayers. 2) This pipeline will never be profitable.

If we fail to draw attention to this scandal, the federal government could get away with it. But if we blow up ministerial inboxes with thousands of emails from outraged residents, it could renew Trans Mountain’s status as political hot potato and further weaken its already precarious future.

Send Finance Minister Freeland an email right now and pressure the Canadian government to publicly come clean about Trans Mountain’s dodgy finances.

*Note that Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Wilkinson, and Minister Guilbeault will also be cc'ed*

Demand the truth about Trans Mountain

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The Honourable

Chrystia

Freeland

Liberal Party of Canada

Dear Minister Freeland,

I’m writing to you in regards to the alarming new report “Trans Mountain: Compromised viability to cost taxpayers more than $17 billion” from independent economist Robyn Allan and West Coast Environmental Law. The report reveals in detail how you and your government have misled the Canadian public about whether or not public funds would continue to prop up this flailing pipeline. It also debunks your claims that the project is still financially viable, despite massive cost overruns and mismanagement.

You can check it out here: https://wcel.org/publication/trans-mountain-compromised-viability-cost-taxpayers-more-17-billion

The report raises a lot of important questions that I, and I am sure many other Canadians, want you to answer – including:

1. Why did you base your claim that the Trans Mountain pipeline would be profitable based on the project operating for 100 years, knowing that the industry norm for analysis of this kind of infrastructure is a 40 year period? 
2. How do you reconcile the claim that the Trans Mountain Expansion will still be exporting oil in 2122 with your government's climate target of net zero by 2050?
3. How will you find a buyer for the pipeline without writing down billions of dollars of that debt? The Trans Mountain Expansion’s projected revenues are not high enough to pay back the debt load incurred by the project, which is entirely held by or guaranteed by the federal government. 
4. If Trans Mountain is not paying the interest on the debt already owed to Canadians, and that shortfall is being added to its loan balance, doesn't that constitute tens of millions of new public funding being poured into the project? 
5. Why has your Ministry allowed the use of shell companies and other accounting tricks that appear to be obscuring the true finances of the Trans Mountain project from the public?
6. Why aren’t Trans Mountain Corporation’s financial statements prepared using International Financial Reporting Standards?
7. If, as the report makes clear, the Trans Mountain Expansion is not profitable or a viable business – why won’t your government cancel the project?

Canadians deserve the truth: after all this pipeline is still being built with our money. Over the years the costs of this pipeline have continued to spiral out of control, and the business case has gotten weaker and weaker. Based upon these new facts, it seems like we are now past a tipping point where there is really no justification to continue throwing good money after bad.

Let me conclude with this final question. If the beneficiaries of this pipeline – oil companies – won't pay for it, why should regular Canadians continue to foot the bill?

Sincerely,
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