Alberta legislature unanimously passes motion in favour of Trans Mountain expansion

The Alberta legislature unanimously passed a motion Tuesday in support of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to the West Coast.

The motion, introduced by Premier Rachel Notley, supports the government's fight to get the project built and calls on the federal government to take all "necessary legal steps" to get it started.

The United Conservative Party caucus, led by Jason Kenney, introduced three amendments aimed at changing the wording of the motion to make it tougher.

• Notley wants MLAs to debate importance of Trans Mountain expansion

Two amendments were defeated but MLAs approved a change to make it clear that the federal government needs to start, not continue, taking action.

The final version of the bill passed 70-0.

"My view today is that it's good that they've acknowledged the federal government has not gone far enough," said UCP house leader Jason Nixon. "But by not putting in a clear statement that we expect the feds to do something, we continue to allow Justin Trudeau to weasel out of this."

The pipeline carries diluted bitumen and other products from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C. The $7.4-billion expansion project would nearly triple its capacity to 890,000 barrels a day.

The project won federal government approval in 2016 but the B.C. government created uncertainty last month when it called for further review of the oil-spill risk.

In retaliation, Notley announced Alberta would boycott all B.C. wines. The boycott was later lifted after B.C. decided to refer the question of whether it can limit bitumen shipments to the courts.