https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Preston Manning is the founder of the Manning Centre, and the former leader of the Reform Party of Canada.
Here are some truths that urgently require a co-ordinated response from governments, companies and Canadians whose jobs, incomes and living standards are jeopardized by ignoring them:
First, that the natural-resource sectors (agriculture, energy, mining, forestry and fisheries) are foundational to the Canadian economy, directly and indirectly accounting for over 20 per cent of our gross national product, with the energy sector being the biggest contributor.
Secondly, Canada is losing millions of dollars a day in revenues, plus thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment, because opposition to the building of pipelines to seaboard and world markets forces Canada to sell oil and natural gas to the U.S. market at discounted prices.
As the second-largest country on Earth by area, Canada has roughly the second-largest store of natural resources in the world – something to be immensely proud, not apologetic, about. Canada is also bounded by three oceans, thus requiring clear and unobstructed corridors to move a major portion of our natural resources to seaboard (and thus to overseas markets) by road, railway, pipeline and transmission lines.
The immediate requirements are for corridors to the Pacific to access Asian markets and corridors to the Atlantic to replace oil imports from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela with Canadian oil. As more resource development moves further northward, corridors to the Arctic will also be required.
For the rest of this column: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-to-build-pipelines-we-must-create-coalition-corridors/