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The leaders of three of Canada’s biggest provinces have a golden opportunity to contribute to the growth and prosperity of the country, throwing their weight behind a project of national interest while helping create jobs and support their own economies. To do so, however, may require two of them to demonstrate leadership in the face of short-term populist agendas with strong — if ill-informed — emotional pull.
Last week premiers Kathleen Wynne of Ontario and Philippe Couillard of Quebec agreed to follow a coordinated strategy in dealing with the Energy East project, the $12-billion pipeline that would move Alberta crude to the East Coast. Responding to popular concern about the impact of the pipeline on a range of interests, they issued a list of conditions to be met, including consultations with First Nations; due consideration of greenhouse gas emissions, adoption of the highest standards of safety and protection of the natural gas supply for consumers.
None of the conditions is unreasonable – what company is going to object to a demand for high safety standards? What’s worrying is the sense that Canada’s two biggest provinces may be positioning themselves for a repetition of the aggressive opposition adopted by British Columbia’s government in regard to several pipeline projects that would cross B.C. to Pacific ports.
Seeking to bolster her party’s low standing in polls before the most recent election, B.C. Premier Christy Clark took a combative approach to the $6.5 billion Northern Gateway project running from Alberta to Kitimat. Ms. Clark issued her own list of demands, which have helped undermine support for the project and turn pipelines into a toxic topic across the province, while delivering a majority government to Ms. Clark.
Both Ms. Wynne and Mr. Couillard already have safe majorities, so they don’t share Ms. Clark’s political desperation. But there’s an attraction in opposing that too often obscures the benefits to be had from advocating, and which seems to overwhelm political leaders. Provincial leaders seem particularly prone, especially if it lets them shift blame for their difficulties onto Ottawa.
Pipeline projects are not popular these days. Environmentalists have succeeded in turning them into emotional issues that stir opposition founded largely on empty but attractive arguments. President Barack Obama’s refusal to approve the Keystone XL pipeline is based on his claim the pipeline would ship Canadian oil across U.S. soil for quick export to other countries, endangering U.S. environs while providing no benefit. None of this is true, but it has nonetheless helped delay the project for six years.
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