Energy East pipeline dies as Lac Megantic forgotten

TransCanada’s cancellation Thursday of the Energy East pipeline may be a victory for myopic environmentalists, but it is also an indictment of the Trudeau Liberals.

Under Justin Trudeau’s leadership, the Liberals imposed stringent greenhouse gas regulations on TransCanada that do not apply to foreign entities — including those ruled by despots and human-rights abusers — that are shipping crude by ocean-going tankers for off-loading at Canada’s east-coast ports.

So, it was hardly a level oil field. It has not been a good week for the prime minister. On Wednesday, Trudeau was berated on Parliament Hill by First Nation demonstrators over his government’s botching and projected indifference concerning the inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women and girls.

“How dare you come out here and say that you support our families?” asked B.C.’s Connie Greyeyes.

Then came TransCanada pulling the plug on a pipeline project from Alberta’s oilsands to refineries in Saint John, N.B., that would have provided upwards of 15,000 construction jobs, and another 1,000 positions down the road.

The 4,600-kilometre Energy East pipeline would have been the longest in North America, with the capacity of safely moving 1.1-million barrels of oilsands and Saskatchewan crude a day to refineries on the East Coast.

If there was ever a mega-project, this was it. It carried a $15.7-billion price tag, and would have provided billions in tax revenues.

Gone, too, is TransCanada’s Eastern Mainline project, which would have added new natural gas pipelines and gas-compression facilities in southwestern Ontario and Quebec where most of the country’s home and industrial gas consumers are.

The reason? The same stringent Canada-only environmental regulations that took Energy East out of play, but continues to allow foreign fuels to flow into Canada without the same onerous regulations.

Quebec Premier Phillippe Couillard and Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, the two loudest opponents of Energy East, would appear to have very short memories, and are therefore dismissive of the fact pipelines are arguably the safest method of moving crude, a commodity that is still vitally necessary and thus far irreplaceable.

Have they forgotten Lac Megantic? Would they rather have Canadians continue to bail out Bombardier than have Quebecers feel safe when freight trains roll through their towns in the middle of the night?

As a reminder, 47 Quebecers burned to death on that tragic day in July 2013 when an unattended 74-car freight train carrying tankers filled with crude rolled down the hill and exploded in the town, destroying almost half of Lac Megantic’s core.

Lisa Raitt, now deputy leader of the federal Conservatives, had to deal with the aftermath of that disaster while transport minister in the government of Stephen Harper.

And she took direct aim Thursday at Trudeau for the cancellation of the Energy East pipeline.

“I want to be very clear,” she said. “Today’s announcement is not a result of a sudden decision by TransCanada. It’s a result of the disastrous energy policies promoted by Justin Trudeau and his failure to champion the Canadian energy sector.”

She added, “He forced Canadian oil companies to comply with standards that are not required for foreign countries. And these decisions have allowed companies operating in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Algeria to ship oil to Canada with an advantage over companies like TransCanada that employ middleclass Canadians.”

But she was not done. “Everything Justin Trudeau touches becomes a nightmare,” she said.

Would that she were wrong, but she isn’t. markbonokoski@gmail.com