OTTAWA — Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said Thursday it’s “premature” to draw conclusions about the potential removal or adjustment of the West Coast tanker ban, since no pipeline route has been mapped out to bring oil from Alberta to the B.C. coast.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Hodgson said people are “jumping to conclusions” about changes to the ban after Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed a memorandum of understanding clearing a possible path for a new pipeline to the West Coast.

“I think it’s premature for people to have concluded things when there is no route yet, and there have been no conversations about that route at this point in time,” Hodgson said Thursday.

“What the MOU says is there will be a deepwate

See Full Page