MEEK: Premiers, pipelines and prime ministers
I spent the week trying to figure out B.C. Premier Christy Clark.
I think I’m getting there.
On Monday, Premier Clark declared war on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline by saying it posed one “very large (environmental) risk” to her province.
Given the tone of her remarks, I thought Clark was willing to stop the pipeline in its tracks as a matter of high principle.
I should have known better.
On Tuesday, Ms. Clark put her environmental ethics on the auction block and asked Alberta to pay a higher price to buy them off.
By Wednesday, she was calling for a negotiated truce in the war she started on Monday, and asked for talks with both Alberta and the feds.
If I’ve got her right, Clark is saying that the pipeline might be OK, so long as B.C. gets a little extra cash for the privilege of putting its territory at risk from an oil pipeline to the Pacific Coast.
Now, that’s the kind of politics I understand — self-interested, predictable, with an eye on the main chance.
At least Clark and her adversary of the week, Alberta Premier Alison Redford, provided some entertainment in their war of words.
Redford even managed to dismiss Clark’s plea for more oilsands loot in a mere five words. “We will not share royalties.”
Once you understand that the Northern Gateway row is about spreading the oilsands wealth around, everything becomes a little clearer.
Every first minister in the country gets this, especially the one who was not in the room this week in Halifax.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper badly wants the Northern Gateway to get built.
This, after all, is the magic line that is supposed to take Alberta oil to the B.C. coast for export to Asian markets. In Asia, Canadian crude could be expected to fetch a premium of a few more bucks a barrel than it does in the United States.
As for Christy Clark, I don’t think she could stop the Northern Gateway pipeline even if that was her real goal.
Under Canadian law, the federal government has the right to see that pipelines are built across provincial territories, whether landowners or other governments like it or not.
In addition, the Harper Conservatives have given the federal cabinet the power to overrule the decisions of regulatory bodies like the National Energy Board.
In short, if the feds have to exercise executive fiat to get this baby built, they’ll do just that.
As for the much-discussed notion of building an oil pipeline in the other direction — eastward to beautiful downtown Saint John — that could become priority No. 2 in the Harper playbook.
An eastern line would open up even more markets for Alberta oil, and relieve Eastern Canada of the burden of importing supplies from Hither, Yon and other unstable, unfriendly, undemocratic and unpredictable nations.
Now that we’ve got the West looking east, Christy Clark should turn her gaze in this direction as well. Her goal in this debate, after all, is gaining economic benefits from a pipeline carrying another province’s petroleum.
Back in 1997, then-serving New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna figured that puzzle out.
McKenna probably couldn’t have stopped the pipeline then proposed to deliver Nova Scotia offshore gas to the U.S. But he was savvy enough to know he could slow the regulatory process down long enough to frustrate the proponents.
At the end of his dispute with the Savage government in Nova Scotia, dear Frank managed to acquire cheaper gas for New Brunswick.
Clark holds a similar hand today.
She can win economic benefits for her province by becoming one great nuisance, and she arguably made a good start at it this week.
All B.C. has to do is make someone say “uncle” by delaying the Northern Gateway pipeline in court actions, or supporting the efforts of First Nations groups to do the same.
Premier Clark, in short, is capable of driving almost everyone else crazy by putting a temporary roadblock or two between Stephen Harper and his vision of Canada’s future.
And in the end, the feds or Alberta may well find a way to do the practical thing, by giving B.C a little extra something to remove the barricades.
Jim Meek is a Halifax-based freelance writer and a principal of Public Affairs Atlantic Inc.
If you don't ask you wont get.
Submitted by Quiet Comment on July 28, 2012 - 7:17am.
BC can and should put up a fight to ensure there is benifit to them from this project. Hey, if they just said sure come on over they would be siting there with a pipe line and nothing more. There should be some sharing of revnues when you cross someone elses property. There will be some benifit yes as in the terminal for laoding the ships will be in BC and the jobs created for this. These things should all be kept in mind when determining the revenue.
Interprovincial trade war?
Submitted by traispealot on July 28, 2012 - 8:47am.
This could turn into a nice little trade war couldn’t it? If Alberta had to fork out to ship its oil through BC, couldn’t Alberta demand royalties or payment for anything coming from BC into and through its province? That would amount to yet another level of taxation and, holy smokes, isn’t the level of taxation in this country already high enough?
I don’t know about piping oil to the east coast. Quebec isn’t likely to let that happen without getting more than its fair share from that deal. And also, if the overarching idea of energy security to get away from reliance on unstable governments, you’ve just shot down the idea of an east coast pipe line right there.
Harper needs to take Christy aside and let her know how it's going to be.
Jim Meek Gets There
Submitted by dennis.cato on July 28, 2012 - 10:06am.
"I spent the week trying to figure out B.C. Premier Christy Clark. I think I am getting there." Jim Meek
Good going Jim but I can see your problem. You write that, "Given the tone of her remarks, I thought Clark was willing to stop the pipeline in its tracks as a matter of high principle."
I bet the fact that she just wanted a greater percentage of the profits from the pipeline as it crossed her territory stopped you right in your tracks, right Jim? You see, Jim, not everyone acts like you do, always on the level of "high principle."
You got there, Jim. Good going.
Well put Mr. Meek
Submitted by Here on July 28, 2012 - 10:51am.
Pipelines running to the East coast would make more sense anyway in a few years. A TransCanada corridor of energy resources for sale or consumption.
Premier Clark should know the mood of her electorate better than we do and likely believes this is the path to follow to next year's provincial election.
Premier Clark will lose the battles but perhaps win the war of being returned to office. The tactic is not new (us against them) but I was hoping it was getting old. The flip side of the tactic is the "us" soon becomes a ghetto bypassed by events and society.
The Dominion of Alberta ?
Submitted by Bewaretheright on July 28, 2012 - 11:33am.
Pipelines bring wealth to the owners of the product flowing in them and the operators of the conduit. To the rest of us, we get the environmental
damage from the spills. Harper has demonstrated that he and the Reform party will ensure that their friends in the oil patch get whatever they want, whenever they want. The taxpayers will never get the real reason the Reformers want these pipelines built. The propaganda has started already for a line running east. Nova Scotia Conservative leader Baillie has been using his regular slot on the right wing morning talk show to spread the lie that bringing Alberta oil east will lower gas prices. Expect more such garbage in the months ahead.