The Trudeau government bought Trans Mountain pipeline from Kinder Morgan on May 29 after the company threatened to bail on construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. Trans Mountain photo.
Federal government’s financial advisor approached CPPIB to invest in Trans Mountain expansion project
According to a report by CBC News, the federal government’s financial advisor has approached the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to put money into the Trans Mountain pipeline project.
While speaking to the House of Commons Finance Committee on Tuesday, CPPIB chief executive Mark Machin said there has been no political pressure applied to the board.
Machin says the Toronto-based fund manager and its peers will likely investigate the TMX project because there are few investment opportunities of its magnitude.
The move comes less than two weeks after the Trudeau government announced it will buy the Kinder Morgan project. In early April, Kinder Morgan announced it was halting non-essential construction on the pipeline due to political opposition.
At that time, Kinder Morgan CEO Steve Kean said the company could not continue construction of the pipeline unless there was “final certainty” from various levels of government by May 31.
The federal government’s hand was forced by the BC government’s continued court battle over the federally regulated pipeline. Days before the company’s deadline, the federal government and Kinder Morgan came to an agreement which would see the Canadian government purchase the pipeline for $4.5 billion.
Following the sale, Canada’s Finance Minister Bill Morneau said he didn’t believe the government will have any trouble selling the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project once the uncertainty of its future is resolved.
According to CBC, Machin told the finance committee that the CPPIB has good and bad history with pipelines and will take its usual approach in deciding if it will invest in the Trans Mountain pipeline.
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