Opposition MPs in Ottawa are highly critical of the plan for the federal government to spend $4.5 billion to acquire Kinder Morgan and build a pipeline through BC to get prairie oil to port.

The announcement this week was rather unexpected and Conservative Member of Parliament for Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan Tom Lukiwski doesn't like it, saying it doesn't really solve anything.

"We've heard from the British Columbia NDP government that they plan to continue to do whatever they can within their powers to keep the pipeline from being built and there are many comments from environmental activists in British Columbia who say they will ramp up their activity to disrupt the construction of the pipeline and so it'll be a test of wills, I suppose."

Lukiwski argues that the government had all the legal rights they needed to allow Kinder Morgan to build the pipeline but weren't willing to press the issue with the province of British Columbia, now they'll have no choice as they take over the project. He says the chance of the project actually being completed is 50/50.