Trans Mountain pipeline will benefit Canada – at a very high price
Last week, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that the federal government will buy the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project for $4.5 billion. The government plans to construct the pipeline through a Crown corporation, with an expectation of selling it or otherwise transferring ownership in the future.
The project will nearly triple the capacity to move oil from Alberta’s oil sands to a tidewater port in Vancouver, netting higher prices for Canadian oil and breaking our dependence on a single foreign buyer – the United States – for our oil resources.
Because of that single market, which buys our oil at a discount, Canada’s energy sector will lose some $16 billion in 2018 compared to selling oil into higher-priced markets.
The Trans Mountain expansion will change that dynamic. The Conference Board of Canada estimates the pipeline will create 53,000 jobs per year over in its first 20 years. It also estimates that federal and provincial governments would rake in $18.5 billion over that time.