Last week, the Village of Wabamun hosted its annual Dragonfly Festival, a parade and community celebration event held in the recently enhanced Village Centre downtown core and public square – a project funded in part by our Trans Mountain Expansion Project Community Benefit Program. The Village of Wabamun is the first community to develop and complete a community project as a direct result of our Community Benefit Program.

We have Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) with 19 communities along the pipeline corridor to provide direct benefits to those that will be affected by construction of the expansion. The Village of Wabamun is located west of Edmonton, Alberta along the pipeline corridor and expansion plans for the area include constructing 2.1 km of new pipeline.

Trans Mountain entered into an agreement with Wabamun in November 2016 to fund the Wabamun Common Project, which included beautifying the Village Centre and the addition of a public square for community celebrations. Construction of the public square began in the fall of 2017 and officially opened last December.

Trans Mountain has signed agreements along 95 per cent of the pipeline route, which help with initiatives from education and training opportunities, to investing in infrastructure and park and trail improvement projects. The funds help to compensate for public inconvenience and temporary disruption caused in the route communities during construction.

Communities that have signed an agreement will receive funds after the start of construction, which will vary in each community. We are currently in discussions with communities to finalize details of the CBAs. All funds related to community benefit agreements will be dispersed prior to the expansion being in-service. We continue to value our 60-plus years of being a good neighbour in the communities where we operate and we are proud of the legacy the Community Benefit Program will have on these communities.