Pipeline bet cost Albertans
By TIM KALINOWSKI on January 22, 2021.
In this Dec. 18, 2020 photo, pipes to be used for the Keystone XL pipeline are stored in a field near Dorchester, Neb. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his officials have been in frequent contact with President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration making the case for a long disputed oil pipeline that reports say Biden will cancel on his first day in office. (Chris Machian /Omaha World-Herald via AP)LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
Opposition Finance Critic and Lethbridge West MLA Shannon Phillips said Premier Jason Kenney made a risky bet on the Keystone XL pipeline that left Alberta taxpayers over-exposed, and now on the hook for billions of dollars after on his first day in office President Joe Biden, as promised throughout the last year of his election campaign, rescinded permission for the pipeline to cross the border granted under the previous administration.
“What we know now is Mr. Kenney gambled with $1.5 billion of our money,” Phillips says.
“He placed a bet with our money on a Trump White House, and he lost that bet. Now, the only question for Albertans is whether he gambled away $1.5 billion? Or more? The rest of the deal for TTC was in loan guarantees, and it is for the project. So if they cannot pay back any of their other loans on this project then we are on the hook for them to the tune of 100 per cent – or at least that is what we think. We don’t exactly know. And Albertans deserve to know just how reckless Mr. Kenney was with our money.”
Phillips says the former NDP government under Rachel Notley had also supported the Keystone XL pipeline, and had extended guarantees to the pipeline’s Canadian partner, TTC Energy, (now TC Energy), to help encourage its completion, but with the caveat those guarantees would not kick in until after the pipeline was operational in order to protect taxpayers. It appears Mr. Kenney took out no such protections, she says, despite knowing it was a risky investment given the uncertain political climate in the United States. Kenney, she states, has no one to blame but himself, and calls the premier’s calls for retaliation against the United States “stupid.”
“Starting or even threatening any kind of trade war with the United States would put millions of jobs at risk in Canada,” she states, “and specifically (thousands of jobs) in Alberta. It is not unlike a housecat who takes a swat at a lion.
” The hubris, in the first instance, someone may look on that, and say, ‘I admire your pluck.’ But it is not likely to end well (for the cat).”
She rejects any equivalency Kenney has tried to draw between tariffs of the Trump era the Canadian government retaliated against, and this loss of billions of dollars on a private, unprotected, investment deal with a corporation built on a high level of uncertainty and risk.
“There was no one forcing him to go into a very bad deal,” she states, “and give away billions of dollars to this company. He could have stewarded our money with more care and concern, and he chose not to do that. (Now) he is trying to make a national unity conversation out of this … Look. Mr. Trudeau did not force Mr. Kenney to enter into a bad deal and give away 1.5 billion of our dollars; no one forced him to do that.”
Lethbridge East UCP MLA Nathan Neudorf says he will not comment or speculate on the wisdom of imposing punitive tariffs on the U.S. in this instance, but he says there is risk inherent in any decision a government makes to try to do better by its people.
“Every government seeks to do the best it can for its people, and you make decisions with the information you have at the time,” he says. “With every element there is some risk. The former (NDP) government took a risk on oil by rail, and we took a risk on a pipeline. We had the previous president (Trump) say yes, and the one before that (Obama) say no. And now this one says no, and we still have our work cut out for us. I am not willing to give up on it yet, but we definitely have our work cut out for us.”
Neudorf says the decision to cancel Keystone highlights the importance of the advocacy work he will be part of when the Council of State Governments for the West and Midwest meet later this summer.
“Those conversations will have even a higher priority than they did before because obviously we are talking about a lot of investment from the province and the people of Alberta, as well as our future in terms of helping our energy sector to get back on its feet,” he says.
Neudorf acknowledges President Biden’s decision to cancel the Keystone pipeline does not come as much of a surprise to anyone who has been watching the elections south of the border over the last year.
“It was a disappointment, for sure, but I don’t know we were entirely surprised,” he admits. “President Biden made no secret about his plan that way, but we are definitely disappointed.”
Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter
Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter
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Perhaps it is time to shut down all exports of crude to the US, pipelines and railcars . . . it would be costly, but it would send a loud and clear message!
They need our heavy for their refineries . . . their refineries were built, needing heavy crude for part of their process. Their US billionaires have paid protesters to shut down pipelines and major projects, while they swoop in and make major investments in our green energy, so they can dominate the green energy market as they did the petroleum market.
Warren Buffet owns Atla-Link, which moves electricity throughout the province, while investing in wind farms and other green energy, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which Buffet is a major donor and Trustee, has major investment in CPRail and CNRail, under BMGF and Vanguard . . . they make too much money from railroads to allow pipelines to steal those profits . . . only one of the many examples of how we are being robbed, with no Canadian government standing up against them!!
Keystone XL’s demise and why!
First of all I can tell you this has absolutely nothing to do with saving the planet.
So why did Biden block XL? One of the Democratic Parties biggest contributors is the “Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffet who owns the Berkshire Hathaway Group.
PROCOR the rail car company that produces the rail cars necessary to carry crude was owned by a Canadian Oakville Company until 2002. It was purchased by a company called Union Tank Car out of Louisiana, guess who owns Union Tank Car? Warren Buffets Bershire Hathaway.
What rail line will carry these now fully loaded rail cars of Oilsands Crude? BNSF is Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC. out of Fort Worth Texas. Care to guess who owns BNSF? Starts with Warren and ends with Buffet?
Oilsands Crude will always be sent to a small group of Refineries because of it’s high Sulphur content. Care to guess who owns the Refineries? Do you need a hint?
Timing? Biden suddenly decide he would block XL in August 2020 (formal announcement) Which strangely coincided with Warren Buffets purchase (deal closed August 20 2020 ) of many of the Oil and Gas lines that run from Buffet controlled refineries to the Gulf Coast.
So Alberta lost the XL for one reason and one reason only. It was to placate the Democrats Largest Contributor and I can assure you, rail car delivery of Crude does not save the planet!
Meanwhile Biden gets to look like a Planet Saver while sticking it to Canada and Alberta. Trudeau loves the idea because it once again “sticks it to Alberta and Kenney” and fits his agenda to a Tee!
The Alberta NDP wants to remind Alberta as to who is “defending Albertans”! The NDP insists its them, perhaps in some cases but they are 100% wrong on this one!
Ottawa will do nothing to assist Albertans, because they have their NDP lapdog willing to do their bidding for them! We have no “united front in Alberta”! Why? The NDP decided Albertan’s “did not need ONE VOICE and to stand with Albertan’s”. All they had to do was 3 minutes of research! The NDP will soon realize they will be on the wrong side of history and have abandoned Albertans in their time of greatest need! They were duped on the very first “Buy America Deal”!
Killing XL was a Biden/Buffet Business Deal, nothing else!