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Time to build a pipeline

The federal cabinet has done what they had to do, and given the green light for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to proceed.

The federal cabinet has done what they had to do, and given the green light for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to proceed.

While the Liberals were going to be criticized from their left-of-centre supporters and the ardent environmentalists, they gave themselves no choice but to give the pipeline their blessing.

They already agitated environmentalists when they decided to green light Trans-Mountain (along with Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement), and further aggravated them (and others) by purchasing the pipeline for billions of dollars.

If they didn’t give Trans Mountain the go-ahead, again, they would have flushed billions of dollars down the toilet, in an election year, no less, and it would have reinforced people’s criticisms that the Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau don’t know how to manage the country’s finances.

And he still would have had the hardcore environmentalists ticked off at him for approving Trans Mountain the first time.

The decision to move forward with Trans Mountain was a rare glimmer of optimism for an industry that hasn’t had a lot of reasons to celebrate in the last five years. The combination of the oil price crash that started in 2014, instability and the inability to get oil to market now that there has been some recovery, has made life difficult for the energy sector.

We need pipelines. Yet it seems like every pipeline has run into hurdles and stumbling blocks in the last few years.

Even the Enbridge Line 3 replacement has been hindered, thanks to the courts in the U.S.

The Trudeau government rejected Northern Gateway, and their policies killed the Energy East pipeline. And when they approved Kinder Morgan, the courts blocked it, further delaying the project.

Now that it’s been approved a second time, people are still wondering if it will get built. You can understand the skepticism.

Meanwhile, the government is forging ahead with Bill C-69, which critics say will prevent pipelines from getting built, and Bill C-48, which will band tankers from the B.C. coast.

(You have to wonder why the government hasn’t said anything about oil tankers off of the east coast).

Sure, you could argue the Tories will repeal these bills if they’re elected in October’s federal election, but it’s still going to be tough to get companies to invest in Canada if they know there’s a risk of getting a Liberal government back in power in a few years.

And even if we revert to the environment assessment rules from before the Trudeau Liberals took power, it still takes years to get a pipeline approved and constructed, regardless of the prime minister or the governing party.

The federal government has spent the past four years trying to walk the tight rope by catering to the environmental crowd, while still trying to move forward with some projects that are good for the energy sector, and consequently, the economy.

So they approved Enbridge Line 3, and they approved (and later purchased) Trans Mountain.

They say that the money they make from Trans Mountain will be reinvested in green projects. Does anybody take that pledge seriously?

There is something to be said about trying to find a balance between the best interests of the environment and the best interest of the energy sector. We need pipelines. We need to capitalize on the many resources that this nation is blessed with. We need to give reasons for companies to want to invest in this country.

And we need to be mindful of environmental needs with every decision that we make.

Unfortunately, Trudeau is not a strong enough leader or legislator to navigate that mine field.