A former TransCanada CEO says Canada is heading the wrong way in how it looks at approving pipelines.

Hal Kvisle called Bill C-69, a bill currently being reviewed by the Senate aimed at assessing environmental impact in Canada’s energy regulations, “an absolutely devastating piece of legislation.” 

“We have got environmental activists that are within the federal government that have put forward a Bill, C-69, for the review and approval of pipeline projects,” Kvisle told BNN Bloomberg in an interview on Friday. “I don’t think any competent pipeline company would submit an application if Bill C-69 comes into force.”

“[C-69] is an absolutely devastating piece of legislation. Canadians have got to come to grips with what’s going on here.”

Kvisle also said that the Energy East pipeline could be resurrected, but only if the Canadian government puts its support behind the project.

“If the government was to come out and say: ‘We are 100 per cent behind Energy East and we want you to go ahead and we want you to do the detailed regulatory work,’ we could see that project go ahead,” Kvisle said.

“But, we need more than just: ‘Why don’t you reapply? And let’s see what happens this time,’” he added. “That’s not going to work anymore. People aren’t going to go ahead under that basis.”

The regulatory environment surrounding pipelines in Canada and the U.S. has come to the forefront once more this week, as a Montana judge ordered another environmental review of the proposed route of TransCanada’s Keystone XL.

Meanwhile, sections of the Trans Mountain expansion project were given the green light for construction by the National Energy Board on Thursday. The Canadian government agreed to purchase that project from Kinder Morgan Canada on May 29 under the shadow of a company-imposed deadline to clear up regulatory uncertainty.

“I think what we need is a whole change of approach to these projects. The government – whether it’s a Conservative or Liberal government – needs to review the project early on and send a signal to the community and to the pipeline proponent whether or not the government of Canada supports the project.”