Alberta premier says Canada PM "aligned" with province on pipelines

By Andrea Hopkins
KANANASKIS, Alberta, April 24 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet are broadly "aligned"
with Alberta and the need to develop pipelines to get the
region's oil to market, the leader of the province said on
Sunday.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said she had emerged from a
meeting with Trudeau and his cabinet with the feeling they were
on the same page about pipelines and environmental concerns.
The left-leaning New Democrat leader is lobbying Trudeau's
Liberal government to approve TransCanada Corp 's TRP.TO Energy
East pipeline project in the event it clears the National Energy
Board's review, which is underway.
Trudeau has previously said it is not his job to be a
cheerleader for pipeline projects, but he is under pressure to
help the province that once dominated Canada's economy develop
its energy resources.
"There is a general sense we're aligned," Notley told
reporters after meeting with Trudeau and several ministers. "I
absolutely come away with the sense that we were able to
effectively make our case."
The collapse of oil and gas prices has staggered the
Canadian economy, and Trudeau has driven the budget into deficit
to invest in infrastructure and boost growth in Alberta and
beyond.
Trudeau and his ministers are in Alberta for a three-day
cabinet meeting, and the choice of the province for his second
cabinet retreat since his government took office last November
suggests he's sympathetic to its economic plight.
Trudeau greeted Notley at the start of their 30-minute
meeting noting "the important role Alberta has to play in the
entire country's prosperity," but he did not speak to reporters
afterwards.
Energy East, which would take up to 1.1 million barrels of
oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Canada's east
coast, faces increasing problems as environmental and aboriginal
groups ramp up protests.
TransCanada and Alberta's landlocked oil sands industry are
looking to Energy East to reach international markets after U.S.
President Barack Obama rejected TransCanada's Keystone XL
pipeline project to the United States last year.
Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr told reporters outside
the Trudeau-Notley meeting that the approval process for
pipeline projects remained the same as outlined in January.