On May 1st the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will begin commercial operations. 

It marks the end of a 12 year saga that included protests, legal challenges and the purchase of the pipeline itself by the federal government. 

When Ottawa stepped in to buy TMX six years ago, it had an estimated price tag of $7.4 billion dollars. Today the cost has grown to $34 billion dollars. 

As the polarizing project nears the finish line, CBC producer Allison Dempster visits communities along the pipeline route, from Edson, Alberta to Burnaby, B.C. She meets people who worked on the project, people who campaigned against it and Indigenous leaders who one day hope to own it. 

In the second half of the show, we join Anna Maria Tremonti on a road trip she took along the route back in 2019. She hears from Western Canadians deeply divided on the pipeline project. 

As you’ll hear, the expansion is almost complete, but the debate over its legacy is far from over.

Reported by Allison Dempster. Produced by Jennifer Chevalier.

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit