Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards is skeptical that shovels will hit the ground this construction season on the Trans Mountain pipeline.

In announcing the approval yesterday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was confident his government found the middle ground and expects work to begin before the end of the current construction season. Richards isn't certain that's the case.

Blake Richards, Banff-Airdrie MP

"This is the second go-around as far as approval on this thing goes," says Richards. "Trudeau originally approved the pipeline 2 1/2 years ago and we haven't seen anything happened since in terms of shovels in the ground."

"I hope I'm wrong, I want to see shovels in the ground but I'm not holding my breath. I will believe it when I see it when construction actually begins. Until then I'm not too convinced."

"We all know how many people are out of working and are just looking for any bit of hope. I think they looked at yesterday's announcement for that hope.

"I hope it's not false hope. I really want to see construction begin on this pipeline for the sake of all the people out there who are hurting right now and wondering when they can get back to work."

He believes bills C-69 and C-48 will make the situation even worse and need to be repealed. 

"At the end of the day, this is something that is of national interests. It's something that is critical for our country. It would not only be beneficial for our economy and getting people back to work, but I think it would be something that would be beneficial to our environment."

The technological ingenuity demonstrated by Canadian industry could also have a positive global impact, he believes.

"I think this is a really short-sight thing on the part of the people who are opponents. We could do so much for both our economy and for the world environment if we just had a little bit more of Canada in our products and more of our technology being used around the world."

While announcing the decision, Trudeau blamed the Harper administration for dividing people on the issue.

Richards scoffs at the idea and says it's a tired old excuse.

"I think it's a little bit unbelievable to be blaming someone who was prime minister four years ago for your failures over the last number of years You're elected to do a job and if can't do it, don't blame somebody else. If you can't do it, get out of the way and let somebody else do it who can."