Thread by @NBulowski

The federal government’s decision to approve a $10-billion loan guarantee for Trans Mountain isn’t surprising, but @FinanceCanada's refusal to be transparent about TMX is a huge scandal. A🧵on @cafreeland’s claims, #TMX, and the “culture of secrecy” around it

.@cafreeland's assurance TMX will receive no more public $ is "grossly misleading," experts say. This $10-billion loan guarantee puts public $ on the line & @FinanceCanada has so far refused to answer basic questions from @woodsideful and I.
nationalobserver.com/2022/05/12/exp…

The available evidence points to TMX being a money-loser. In 2020, the PBO found it was already on the knife's edge of profitability at $12.6B. In Feb @yzgiroux told me the 70% cost increase renders the project "clearly non-profitable" for the federal govt
nationalobserver.com/2022/03/03/new…

There’s a host of fundamental issues baked into the economics of Trans Mountain that will make it difficult to become commercially viable, @WCELaw lawyer Eugene Kung told us. A recent @ieefa_institute report outlines these issues in detail
ieefa.org/resources/tran…

Despite all this, Freeland has said the project is still commercially viable & govt is “confident” public investments will be recouped with a “potential” for positive returns, citing financial analyses by BMO & TD. But we can’t verify that claim without seeing the analyses…

It's important to emphasize @FinanceCanada is keeping Canadians in the dark as it puts taxpayer $ on the line. Since the February cost update the department has ignored multiple questions from @Woodsideful & I — or sent rehashed versions of press releases.

Days before the $10B loan guarantee was approved on April 29, I asked the dept directly if guaranteeing debt was on the table. My request wasn't even acknowledged until the 30th, when @FinanceCanada responded but refused to answer my questions.

The feds quietly approved the loan guarantee and didn’t utter a word until Politico broke the story Tuesday evening. As Bloc Québécois MP @ATherrienBQ told the House on May 12: “They are embarrassed and they’re being secretive about it.”
nationalobserver.com/2022/05/13/new…

Finance Canada has yet to provide us with any sufficient response on TMX since the February cost update. It's common for my requests to go unacknowledged without multiple follow-ups. And other departments defer to Finance Canada's so-called “responses”

In late March, @FinanceCanada told me all press had the chance to ask Freeland questions at a press conference on Feb. 18 instead of providing a real answer to Qs. You tell me if that's an appropriate response to a simple request for info on a project handed billions of public $

This consistent lack of transparency by @cafreeland et al. is a climate scandal. The federal govt has sunk a reported $17.3B of taxpayer money into a pipeline when the world urgently needs to phase out fossil fuels and isn't being forthcoming about the risk to taxpayer $

Critical to highlight: pipeline projects like #TMX & #CoastalGasLink trample Indigenous rights, as a UN committee has said multiple times, citing violent evictions and arbitrary detentions of land defenders by the RCMP and private security.
nationalobserver.com/2022/05/09/new…

The fed's press release on the loan guarantee contains scant information and @FinanceCanada has yet to provide anything more despite requests
canada.ca/en/department-…

It’s hard to assess the likelihood of a default unless the feds release more information on the terms of the $10B guarantee. We are left “with a whole bucket full of questions,” as @ieefa_institute’s Tom Sanzillo said. (read the article by @Woodsideful and I for more) -end of🧵