A pipeline that’s good for Canada is good for Ontario, too – by Jesse Kline (National Post – August 23, 2013)

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British Columbia’s Liberal Premier, Christy Clark, has not been shy about her province’s desire to get its “fair share” out of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would transport oil sands crude to the West Coast. Not only does Ms. Clark want to receive royalties from oil originating in Alberta, she also wants the federal government to pick up the cost, should anything go wrong.

Unfortunately, this strain of thought seems to have spread beyond B.C.’s borders, passing from one Liberal mind to another.

Last year, the former Liberal premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, weighed into the debate by arguing that the high Canadian dollar that results from energy exports is bad for Ontario’s manufacturing sector. “If I had my preferences as to whether we had a rapidly growing oil and gas sector in the West or a lower dollar, I’ll tell you where I stand: with the lower dollar,” he said.

Mr. McGuinty eventually changed his mind, perhaps having realized that since Ontario manufactures much of the machinery used to develop Alberta’s oil resources, holding up the construction of new pipelines would be counterproductive. But now that he is out of office and his successors are facing the very real prospect of Alberta oil flowing through their backyard, the Ontario Liberals appear to be adopting strategies developed by their West Coast cousins.

Six months before the B.C. Liberals made a last-minute comeback at the polls in the last provincial election, Ms. Clark flew to Toronto for a 90 minute meeting on electoral strategy with Mr. McGuinty. The B.C. Premier said she received some “critically important pieces of advice.”

But it seems that Mr. McGuinty’s Liberals also came away with new perspectives: On Wednesday, Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli took a page from Ms. Clark’s playbook, telling The Globe and Mail that “There is a lot of concern that the majority of the oil [from TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline] will be for export, and that Ontario will only be a conduit to facilitate oil from tar sands [going] to foreign markets.”

TransCanada Corp. recently announced plans to convert its Mainline pipeline, which runs from Alberta to Ontario, from gas to oil, and expand it to run through Quebec and New Brunswick. The proposed line, known as Energy East, is estimated to cost $12-billion and will be able to transport 1.1 million barrels of oil a day to eastern markets and export terminals, including a new one that will be built on the Bay of Fundy. This would be a good thing for Alberta, for the Atlantic provinces and for the country as a whole. But now Ontario wants its piece of the action.

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