Feds approve new $10B loan guarantee for Trans Mountain
BNN Bloomberg
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has secured up to $10 billion in private-sector financing, but it comes with a loan guarantee provided by the Canadian government.
The financing was announced after multiple news organizations, including Bloomberg News, inquired about public disclosures appearing to show the government committing billions of dollars to the pipeline project despite Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s edict two months ago that no more public money be spent on it.
Those disclosures were posted on the website of Export Development Canada, a trade-promotion agency that administers the flow of money on the government’s behalf. They also showed the government put forward $1.75 billion in “working capital support” to Trans Mountain Pipeline LP, the entity building an expansion that will more than double the capacity of the oil pipeline between Alberta and British Columbia.
However, the finance department said Wednesday those funds were bridge financing approved in December, and meant to tide Trans Mountain over until the private-sector financing was arranged. That money has now been repaid in full with interest, the government said.
