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.
As a Canadian, I’m mixed on this. I acknowledge the argument that oil is still a product that is going to remain in demand for a long time still, even as demand declines. I don’t see the middle east conflict being entire over for a long time yet either, so having a conflict free (ish? As long as the US doesn’t invade) source may help our allies as they move to other energy sources.
That said, I don’t know that the cost is worth the potential returns, and every day it seems more certain that the Canadian taxpayer is going to bear the cost of this “Nation Building Project.” That’s a lot of money that could have been spent on securing low carbon infrastructure at home.
As a British Columbian, no it is absolutely not worth the loss of our natural coast and endangerment of our ocean life. Fuck Carney. We could invest in much greener forms of energy as nation building projects.
Mixed feelings as well. But it does mean we can sell the same amount of oil at higher prices to world markets instead of selling at a discount to the US.
Not really though. I mean, there’s a reason we set up to ship most of it to the US in the first place. Most other countries on earth have suppliers that are much closer/already meeting their needs. We’ve got a window here where we might steal some market share from the middle east, but even then, most countries aren’t going to want to keep paying higher prices for Canadian oil when the dust settles, and they have every incentive to move to cheaper energy sources in the mean time. Non-energy petro-chems aren’t nearly as big a market as fuel, and the push to avoid plastic where we can is making even that questionable.
The US discount isn’t that big when you factor in the added cost of getting it either over the mountains or past Hudson bay. If Brent Crude drops below $40/barrel we’ll be losing money on every barrel we ship. You’ld have to pay other countries to take it.
Today there’s some sense to it, but in the long term? We better hope the price of oil stays over $100/barrel for the rest of the decade, and people don’t decide gas costs too much and they’d be better off with an electric car.
I’m not sure. The price of oil is the price of oil…except that Canada sells its oil to the USA at a discount because where else can we sell it.
The fact that Canada sends almost all of our oil to the USA means that the USA buys less at the normal world price from other sources. This increases supply in the world market. If Canada shifts its sales to the world market, then the USA has to buy more from that world market at the higher price also balancing out the supply/demand on the world market.
Net result would be that the USA will have to pay more for Canadian oil, because why would we sell it to them at a discount if we can sell it on the world market at the full price. This just means that we get more money for the same production.
All that assumes that production stays the same. If that holds true then the net environmental impact is relatively neutral except for the pipeline itself.
If the pipeline allows production to increase, then there’s obviously a potential for greater environmental impact, although it’s not really clear that greater supply would mean greater demand. But the Canadian oil is dirty to extract no that’s bad.
However, any amount of excess pipeline capacity away from the USA is a win for Canada economically and politically, as far as I’m concerned.
If Brent crude drops below $40/barrel, that would probably mean that demand had dropped so much that the days of burning oil are coming to a close. I’m not going to complain about that.
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.
Maybe he’s just trying to keep Alberta happy and engaged.
Yeaaah, about that. I’m an Albertan, and it’s not helping.
Different albertans. Pipelines keep a few albertans happy, those who facilitate Americans owning 99% of any oil&gas resource projects and reap the profits, because then they get some kickbacks.
It’s making albertans happy; just nowhere near all or even a significant number of them. It’s making the “important” albertans happy, if you ask Marlaina.
The problem is, those “Important” Albertans don’t really control their hounds as well as they think they do. To use a pop-culture reference, I feel like they’re going to end up sharing Ramsey Bolton’s fate, and unfortunately the rest of us are on the menu with them.
What would?
Not policy. The problem has to do with the media ecosystem in Alberta. We are saturated in pro-American/Oil-boss propaganda and while just under half of us recognize it for what it is, over half don’t. Policy isn’t going to change anything, because over half of us don’t know or care what the policy actually is, what laws, programs, and actions are actually out there, or have any idea how to find out if we wanted to.
It’s not a policy problem, it’s a messaging problem and a community problem.