Of Kinder Morgan, Trans-Mountain and the new reality

It seems like only yesterday that Premier Rachel Notley was demanding that protesters camped out on Burnaby mountain disperse after having lost another court challenge in regards to #tmx prep work being carried out. The Alberta Premier was loud and clear about her insistence that folks respect the law of the land and do as the courts demand.

Well, funny thing about that; no sooner the Federal Appeals Court rules against the proposed pipeline that the good Premier throws a Trump-style tantrum and demands federal intervention.

Now, I don't mean to make light of this; the pipeline project being put on hold (possibly stopped altogether) is a serious setback for a province who's primary industry is linked to the fate of said proposal.

It wasn't long ago that 3rd party leader, Rachel Notley was campaigning on the notion of more diversification of the Alberta economy. She made serious political mileage in bashing 44 years of PC rule that put almost all of its economic eggs into one (tar sands) basket; only to have the bottom fall out of the industry.

She was right then; Alberta has far more to offer than to rip up more soil and further expand an industry that has extremely narrow margins and uniquely sensitive to global market fluctuations. Yet, that is exactly what she's done.

After campaigning against it, Notley's government has triple-downed on the same problematic industrial policy that wounded the province in '15.

I can't help what Alberta does, I don't live there. And I certainly don't advise the government on policy directions.

In a way, I don't blame Rachel Notley. As Premier, she has little choice but to respond forcefully when something seems to threaten their #1 industry. But, what about BC? What about the several first nations who successfully argued that they were not adequately consulted prior to Cabinet approval? What about the failure of the environmental review process to consider any potential impact on coastal waters with the 5x increase of tanker traffic in and out of the south coast?

Alberta may have the right to extract a resource within their jurisdiction, but surely BC and coastal communities have a right to defend our land too.

Alberta cannot get around this; the duty of meaningful consultation with first nations is framed in by several constitutionally relevant Supreme Court decisions. Also, significantly, the jurisdiction to protect and regulate the protection of the environment is a new area of law.

I read occasionally some interesting arguments made in defense of these pipeline proposals. Its framed in as being 'pro-Canadian energy' (read: Canadian oil for Canadian drivers, etc). Cool theory, but every proposed pipeline in the last 10 years has been almost exclusively designed for export only. TransMountain expansion calls for a super port in Vancouver to house the influx of tankers to cart away crude oil for foreign markets. It will do nothing for domestic supply. So when propagandists and supporters try to browbeat opponents into suggesting that their driving habits or home heating are under threat should the pipeline be stopped; they're lying.

The domestic supply isn't changing from this pipeline; but completing it could (ironically) make fuel prices more expensive.

Worse, pipelines are not a job boon as the proponents describe. While there are significant job opportunities in the construction phase, TransMountain would leave behind only 90 theoretical permanent jobs as a result of their project.

Opposite of this, there are at least 110,000 jobs that exist and are at risk in the event of a catastrophic oil spill in the waters around metro Vancouver.

Who's to say. What if the proposal was to build a refinery in BC and sell domestically to the province and region? This would be hard to oppose; given the populist notion of energy independence. Why *wouldn't* you want to consume your own national product?

What if the Trudeau Liberals followed through to revamp the flawed environmental review process? Would the gaps in current model be resolved and more adequate consultations take place?

Fair questions to be sure, but neither scenario is in play. Instead, the Liberals went ahead and used the flawed process as established under Stephen Harper and was rightly challenged in court.

The Trudeau Liberals now find themselves in quite a bind of their own making. They could pull out of the purchase deal and lose only $10 million; literally abandoning Alberta..or they could proceed with a Supreme Court appeal. Both are risky, but if they lose at the Supreme Court, their findings are final and binding.

Either way, this debacle is 100% the making of Justin Trudeau and his federal Liberal Party. They have finally been caught in their own duplicity and sloppy triangulation on the energy/environment file. They rightly deserve to wear every bit of egg coming their way.

My 2 bits.