Michigan, not COVID, may be the biggest threat to Canada’s economy – by Kelly McParland (National Post – March 5, 2021)

https://nationalpost.com/

The biggest immediate threat to Canada’s ability to emerge from the COVID crisis with a functioning economy lies not in who gets which type of vaccine, how quickly the provinces wean themselves off shutdowns or how many extra billions the Liberals are determined to spend in search of popularity.

It lies in a pipeline. Not the better-known Keystone or Trans Mountain lines that have been the focus of intense national and cross-border debate, but the more obscure Line 5, an Enbridge conduit that carries petroleum and other products from Western Canada to the eastern provinces by way of Michigan.

It usually gets little attention because it’s been in operation with minimal drama since the 1950s. Its future has suddenly become questionable because Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a close ally of President Joe Biden, wants it shut down.

This is no small pipeline. It supplies products needed for about 45 per cent of Ontario’s crude oil needs, all the jet fuel at Pearson International Airport and about half the fuel needed by Quebec refineries to make gasoline.

It’s important to Michigan as well, as it ships about 55 per cent of the state’s propane, and 65 per cent used in the state’s upper peninsula.

For the rest of this article: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/kelly-mcparland-michigan-not-covid-may-be-the-biggest-threat-to-canadas-economy