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Alberta Premier Kenney Heads to Ottawa to Fight Canada's Federal Policies on Oil Pipelines

TORONTO (Sputnik) - Alberta Premier Jason Kenney visited Canada’s capital Ottawa on 9 December to push for reform of the pipeline approvals process policies that are stalling the Canadian province's grandstand oil pipeline project - the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion - and are threatening to derail any future natural resource undertakings there.
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"These federal policies discriminate against Alberta. They are an unconstitutional attack on our province and signal to investors that Canada, and particularly Alberta, is not serious about developing its natural resources", Kenney said.

During the two-day stay in Ottawa, Kenney is scheduled to meet with the New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, the opposition Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among others.

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Kenney has said he also intends to discuss the redistribution of funds within the Canadian federation, contending that Alberta has contributed more than $600 billion in net transfers to the rest of Canada since 1960 even as the province is suffering its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Relations between Alberta and the federal government have soured in recent years amid the worst economic downturn in the western Canadian province in decades. The economic woes facing Alberta take place amid slumping global oil prices and pressure from new regulations and environmentalist groups that has stalled projects like the Trans Mountain and Keystone XL pipeline expansion projects.

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