Canadian taxpayers are becoming pipeline owners

So how does it feel to own part of a pipeline? With the federal government’s announcement that it will buy out Kinder Morgan’s ownership of the Trans Pacific Pipeline project, that’s pretty much where we are. Canadian taxpayers will own the project, through its bumpy implementation, the inevitable protests — hopefully not violent — through to its completion, at which point the Trudeau government says it wants to sell it back to the private sector.

Say what you want about the government’s handling of the pipeline standoff — we’d argue Ottawa should have taken a tougher stand on Alberta’s side of the debate — but you can’t call this timid or a half-measure. The government is in to the tune of $4.5 billion. That’s decisive.

Politically, culturally and even geographically, this is a polarizing decision. If you believe, as Trudeau has said repeatedly, that the pipeline is in the country’s overall best interest, you will probably applaud it. If you hate pipelines, if you think oil should stay in the ground, you aren’t going to be happy having your tax dollars invested. If you support the British Columbia NDP/Green coalition government, you’ll be unhappy. If you support Alberta, and Saskatchewan, in their attempts to get their natural resources to the international market, you probably support public ownership.

There can also be more moderate views. You might believe, as we do, that Canada has to chart a course away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy in the interest of mitigating further environmental damage and keeping up with a changing world that will eventually move on from oil. But you might also agree that can’t logically happen overnight, and so we need an interim strategy. Perhaps something like what Trudeau has been trying to work out with the Alberta NDP government where they impose a price on carbon and Ottawa ensures they get a pipeline to move oil to tidewater.

But thanks to British Columbia’s intervention and opposition, Trudeau has been stymied in his attempts to deliver on his part of that agreement. The fact that the government will now own the pipeline doesn’t mean the NDP/Green coalition will stop opposing it, but it does put Ottawa in a better position to get a legal decision that should settle the matter once and for all. Most constitutional law experts seem to agree that Ottawa is on the side of the angels here, at least legally, with the pipeline having gone through the National Energy Board and been found to be in the national interest by the government. But we’ll see.

The government’s decision is also fascinating from a political strategy perspective. Trudeau campaigned on a more sensitive, responsive approach to resource development, and this action won’t be perceived by many Canadians as in keeping with that pledge. Many millennial voters attracted to Trudeau for that and other reasons now have another reason to be disappointed. They will be less motivated to support the Liberals in the election next year.

On the other hand, Trudeau’s decisive move should attract much more support from western provinces other than B.C. Alberta conservative leader Jason Kenney, one of the leading critics, is going to have trouble condemning this decision. So it could cost Trudeau among young voters and in B.C., but help him in Alberta and Saskatchewan. One thing is clear: Nationalizing the pipeline will have many impacts at many levels, and will make for some interesting media coverage in the months and years to come.

Politically, culturally and ... geographically, this is a polarizing decision.