Canada will fast track the approval process for a new proposed crude oil export pipeline to its west coast that could generate over C$20 billion ($14 billion) a year in GDP, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday.
The pipeline, which was announced in July, is a crucial part of Carney’s bid to diversify the economy away from the United States and help lessen the effect of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Carney said Ottawa would officially list the Pacific Link pipeline as a project of national interest, which enables it proceed through a single federal regulatory review process. He said Ottawa aimed to complete the process by September 1, 2027.
Right, but we could have done that 20 years ago, and we didn’t. Why? Because the cost of the infrastructure to do it is more than the discount we are forced to take from the Americans. The question is are we going to be signing up for a permanent national penalty in the form of debt on a bad investment that doesn’t pan out long term. And are we doing it for the sake of people who are wishfully thinking a few new pipes will solve all Alberta’s problems, but aren’t actually going to see any benefits from it, because the profits all end up in American pockets regardless?
The vast majority of Albertans don’t even know that the pipeline projects are moving forward. Why? Because it’s so far from their daily life it doesn’t make an actual difference to their lived experience. It’s an Article of Faith that Ontario hates us because oil, and there’s literally no policy on earth that’s going to change that, because it’s not grounded in reality, it’s grounded in the Mythological idea of what Alberta is that we were all raised on. It’s identity politics. And there’s no way to inject a counter narrative because the only sources of media out here are owned by American Hedge Funds with a vested interest in keeping us in a state of perpetual civil unrest.