Natural resources minister says slumping oil prices won’t deter pipeline plans – CP

Source: The Canadian Press
Jan 18, 2016

SAINT ANDREWS, N.B. _ Canada’s natural resources minister says the low price of oil hasn’t deterred the government’s goal of moving resources to tidewater.

The price of oil on the international market has declined along with the value of the Canadian dollar and delivered a financial hit to resource-rich provinces like Alberta.

And now the market is preparing for a flood of Iranian oil after the United States and the European Union lifted economic sanctions against Iran.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr says the low price for oil is a reality the government has to deal with as it crafts a new process to approve pipelines that would carry oil to Canada’s coasts.

He says Canadians need to have confidence in whatever review process is ultimately approved.

He says the price of oil is having an impact on families, investors and businesses.

Liberal cabinet ministers are meeting Monday as part of a three-day retreat.

The retreat in New Brunswick will help determine the overarching goals for 2016 and set out the strategy the Liberals will use to deal with a sluggish economy and other issues.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau is expected to give his cabinet colleagues an update on what he’s been hearing in budget consultations, what Finance officials have forecasted for 2016 and what it could all mean for the federal budget.

The Liberals are expected to deliver their first budget in mid- to late-March.

House leader Dominic Leblanc, the senior Liberal from New Brunswick, said Sunday the budget will honour the party’s campaign commitments _ notwithstanding the economic news, which has been “a longstanding concern of the government.”

Cabinet ministers will have a full day of meetings today before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a handful of minister travel overseas to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.

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