Trade war ups pressure to build pipelines
Shipping oil to Asia ‘crucially important’
U.S. threats of a trade war with Canada are dramatically increasing pressure for oil pipelines to be built across B.C. to tidewater.
In Ottawa on Tuesday, the federal Liberals pointed to the trade pressures with the U.S., which buys 99 per cent of Canadian oil exports, as a reason to build the proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby.
Meanwhile, in Calgary, the Canadian oil industry’s biggest trade group is calling for the revival of Enbridge Inc.’s controversial proposal for the Northern Gateway pipeline across northern B.C.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during question period Tuesday that the events of the past week demonstrate more than ever the importance of finding new export markets.
And Tim McMillan, chief executive officer of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the time has come to reconsider the Northern Gateway, saying the ability to ship crude off Canada’s Pacific coast to Asia is “crucially important.”
“Today, Canada only has one customer for our crude oil, and growing markets around the world want Canadian product,” McMillan said. “So there’s a natural incentive for us to build to new markets.”
The Northern Gateway pipeline was rejected in 2016 by Trudeau, who said the project wasn’t in the best interest of the Indigenous communities along its route from an oil hub near Edmonton to Kitimat, B.C. But in light of Trump’s recent imposition of tariffs on Canadian metals and his personal attacks on Trudeau, Ottawa should consider revisiting the proposal, McMillan said.
“If there’s ever a time where we need to reassess decisions made even a year or two ago, it’s now,” McMillan said.
Enbridge didn’t respond to a message seeking comment on whether it would consider reviving the project.
However, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh argues Canada should be investing in clean technology to develop and grow the energy sources of the future.