Conservatives hope to expose cracks in Liberal caucus with oil pipeline motion

OTTAWA — Conservatives are planning to force a debate and a vote in the House of Commons Tuesday about the recent deal struck by Ottawa and Alberta to build a new oil pipeline on the West Coast , in hopes of exposing divisions inside the Liberal caucus.

The motion, brought forward by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, calls on MPs to “take note” of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Alberta struck on Nov. 27 and to support the construction of “one or more pipelines” to export bitumen to Asian markets.

Borrowing from the original text of the MOU, the motion also mentions the possibility of an “appropriate adjustment” to the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act — which the B.C. government and many Liberal MPs in the province are opposed to — to make this pipeline happen.

“In the spirit of Christmas, I decided to take a great act of generosity and lift the words right out of the prime minister’s MOU in order to support a pipeline to the Pacific, and a repeal or an overriding of the Liberal tanker ban,” said Poilievre during Monday’s question period.

Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson replied: “In the spirit of Christmas, I’d invite the leader of the Opposition not to cherry-pick parts of the MOU but to support the entire MOU, which is what all of the Conservative premiers across this country are doing.”

So far, Liberal MPs have not said if they would be supporting this motion or not but expressed annoyance at the idea that they would be forced to take a public stance.

Corey Hogan, one of two Liberal MPs in Alberta, accused the Conservatives of playing “political games” which he thinks could jeopardize the existence of a pipeline.

“This is a motion that is designed to provoke and to divide,” he said.

Sukh Dhaliwal, a Liberal MP from Surrey, B.C., said “just watch” when asked how he would vote on the motion. He however called on all MPs to support the MOU because it creates economic opportunities for Albertans, British Columbians and Indigenous peoples.

Former environment minister Steven Guilbeault has already resigned from cabinet over the Alberta MOU and other more progressive Liberal MPs have criticized the deal.

In a video, Vancouver MP Patrick Weiler called the deal is a “big setback” in terms of climate policy, while his colleague Taleeb Noormohamed wrote on X that “any project that goes through the Major Projects Office MUST have B.C. and First Nations consent.”

The Government House leader’s office declined to say if the vote on the motion, set to happen around 6:30 p.m. Eastern, would be “whipped” — which means that all Liberal MPs would be forced to vote with the government.

National Post calevesque@postmedia.com

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