The Keystone XL Pipeline has been dead for some time now. It died under Obama. It died under Nebraska and Montana court orders. It got briefly revived under Trump, It was finally, officially confirmed deceased by the 46th President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden. The Keystone XL Pipeline is dead.
We who are seeking a sustainable energy economy for Canada do not mourn, but the wailing and weeping from Trump wannabe politicians in Canada is deafening, No sooner had Biden cancelled Keystone, than the Republican Conservative horde north of the border, led by O’Toole, Kenney and Ford, took to the airwaves predicting job loss armageddon and the death of the Big Oil corporations.
Let us remember that the Keystone XL Pipeline was NEVER a Canadian dream. It was a business deal cooked up in Calgary between Alberta and Trans Canada Corporation (a private energy company) back in 2008 when Stephen Harper was Prime Minister. Trans Canada Corporation, now known as TC Energy, got it’s Keystone XL Pipeline deal rubber stamped by Harper’s hand-picked corporate National Energy Board.
Fortunately, a marriage made in the deep pits of the tar sands at a time when oil prices were booming high was doomed to failure when the bust came. From environmental studies that showed the potential for disastrous pollution problems to cultural protests over the route selected through the States, Keystone became an investors’ nightmare.
The oily Republican Conservative horde in Canada will no doubt use the cancellation of Keystone XL to attack PM Trudeau. They will blame the Liberals for the loss of non-existent jobs in a declining and rapidly imploding resource extraction industry whose impending death is as predictable as the demise of the pipeline. Canada needs a sustainable energy sector, not an unsustainable cabal of profiteering fossil fools.
The US just deposed a lying dictator – we don’t need the same kind of leadership in Canada. O’Toole and his provincial partners would be well advised to sit down, educate themselves on the energy needs of the 21st Century, and start planning for jobs and economic security in the new renewable, sustainable energy economy.
Ontario’s Doug Ford is so confused over the issue that he thought for a moment that he was a federal leader who could advise newly elected President Biden to reverse his decision. Mr. Ford, you are a provincial Premier, not a Prime Minister. President Biden will be calling Prime Minister Trudeau on Friday, not you. That’ll do, Doug. That’ll do.
The Keystone XL Pipeline is dead. Long live a sustainable energy sector.
The way I see it.
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Skid Crease, Caledon
*image from wxow.com
Alas, neither our Premier, Doug Ford, nor some of his Conservative cabal, like Finance Minister Rod Phillips, seem capable of following those simple rules. Now, wet-behind-the political-ears rookie Sam Oosterhoff may have an excuse for his rules violating crowded evangelical restaurant party, but there is NO EXCUSE for seasoned politicians like Ford and Phillips. These were clear cases of arrogant entitlement.
The old adage still holds true for me, and like in The Polar Express, the silver bell still rings for all those who believe:
It’s like the old story my Dad told me about the little boy who wanted to play ball with his very busy dad. The father gave the boy a torn up map of the world and said “when you put it back together, I’ll take a break and we can play,” Within minutes the boy was back with the map all taped together. The father was astonished. “How did you do that so quickly, son?”
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