Coastal GasLink pipeline gets loan of up to $500M from Canada's EDC
(Toronto Star, Ottawa, 4 May 2020) EDC will lend between $250 and $500 million to build the Coastal GasLink, a natural gas pipeline that sparked a national protest movement and reckoning over the Liberal administration’s commitment to Indigenous reconciliation. The company building the 670-km pipeline, Calgary-based TC Energy, said in a statement to the Star that the deal includes a “syndicate of banks” that will fund the majority of the $6.6-billion project’s construction cost. The deal is entirely unwelcome to Na’Moks, a hereditary chief of the Wet’suwet’en nation in northern British Columbia. The Wet’suwe’ten opposition gained national prominence after RCMP arrests this winter triggered a huge solidarity movement that saw Mohawk demonstrators block rail lines in Ontario and Quebec and supporters stage rallies in cities across the country. Some elected band councils signed agreements to support the project but the Wet’suwe’ten traditional leadership has spearheaded opposition to the pipeline for years.