How about ‘Canada First?’

Re: Making Russian energy great again, Jan. 23

Stephen Schwarzman, who chairs Donald Trump’s team of economic advisers, met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet in Calgary Monday and told reporters the prospects for the Keystone XL pipeline are looking up. However, “An America First Energy Plan” released on Inauguration Day states: “The Trump Administration is committed to energy policies that … maximize the use of American resources, freeing us from dependence on foreign oil.”

Because 80 per cent of Canadian oil is exported, and because 99 per cent of those exports go to the U. S., Canada, more than ever, desperately needs to access new, non-U. S. markets.

“A Canada First Energy Plan” — an Eagle Spirit major energy corridor from the oilsands to Prince Rupert, B. C., and the Energy East pipeline to Saint John, N. B., and Canso, N. S. — will provide enough capacity to transport to new markets all the crude now going to the U. S.

The l ast thing Canada needs is the Trans Mountain expansion, which will primarily supply Puget Sound and California refineries, Enbridge’s Line 3, which will primarily supply U. S. Midwest refineries, or Keystone XL, which will supply U. S. Gulf Coast refineries.

That those three proposed pipelines have been, or soon will be in the case of Keystone XL, approved by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a stunning indictment of Trudeau’s incompetence in dealing with national energy policy issues. Mike Priaro, Calgary