Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mayor Gregor Robertson met privately for 30 minutes Tuesday but did not discuss the one issue that divides both leaders: Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain 987-kilometre pipeline project to be built from Alberta to Burnaby.
Robertson has been vocal in his opposition to Trudeau’s decision in November 2016 to give the $7.4-billion project the green light, despite concerns from the mayor and local First Nations about an increase in oil tanker traffic in the waters surrounding Vancouver.
The meeting, which occurred in the federal government’s offices adjacent to Vancouver Public Library’s main branch downtown, focused on affordable housing, the opioid overdose crisis and transit, said Robertson, when asked at a later news conference about his meeting with the prime minister.
“We didn’t spend time talking about Kinder Morgan. The B.C. government is working on that to some degree and the First Nations are most focused on it at this point — and obviously the markets will dictate a lot of what’s happening, as well,” said the mayor, who added that he didn’t believe the split with Trudeau over Kinder Morgan would affect the city’s efforts to secure funding from the federal government for housing and other priorities. “We have a long history and friendship. We have our differences on some issues, but we’re much more focused on where we can work together, and where we can get things done.”
Trudeau was not made available to media to discuss his conversation with Robertson, although he did speak briefly to reporters prior to the meeting at a staged photo opportunity inside government offices. The prime minister said he looked forward to collaborating with the city and provincial government on an increase to transit infrastructure, tackling the opioid crisis and boosting the amount of rental housing in Vancouver.
“The federal government has stepped up for the first time in a long time on setting aside billions of dollars for housing, and we’re going to work together to make sure we’re continuing to make a dent in the very real challenge of housing affordability,” said Trudeau, who didn’t provide specifics.
Reporters were told not to ask questions.
Earlier in the morning, Trudeau agreed to one-on-one interviews with three local media outlets, including CBC radio, where he spoke briefly about the pipeline and acknowledged Premier John Horgan’s opposition to the project.
“In any relationship between a premier and a prime minister, there’s going to be lots of areas of agreement and a few areas where there’s more challenging discussions to have, and we’re going to work through those issues as they come up,” Trudeau told Early Edition host Gloria Macarenko.
Robertson said he reminded Trudeau of the request from the region’s mayors to have the federal government contribute to the construction of 1,000 modular housing units per year over three years in Metro Vancouver, with 600 of those planned for Vancouver.
He noted the federal government contributed money — $1.5 million — to the city’s first modular housing complex at Main and Terminal. Robertson planned to be in Victoria Wednesday to meet with Horgan and several ministers to also discuss funding the modular housing units.
The mayor said the city’s priorities align well with the governments of Trudeau and Horgan and is hopeful funds will be committed to build more housing, provide more addictions treatment and get the Broadway subway built.
“We’ve been in crisis for all nine years that I’ve been in office trying to grapple with [these issues], and with [former prime minister] Harper and [former premier] Clark gone now, we have a fighting chance of it and our council has to stay strong in pushing for solutions and we’ll be doing that,” Robertson said.
mhowell@vancourier.com
@Howellings
