I responded to your post on the Trans Mountain expansion, for which as you noted, the feds paid $38.5 billion.
And you said Suncor, CNQ paid 'zilch' - but that is not true, because they pay via tolls for shipping on the pipeline. That is how pipelines work - somebody incurs capital to build them, and then recovers that capital plus a return through fees by those who ship on the pipeline.
At no point did I bring up the original pipeline, just the expansion, the problems for which Trudeau and the federal policies can very much take the blame for, as explained in my post.
Alberta would very much like to ship even more to other markets, but unfortunately to do so, they would have to cross provincial borders to get to port, and there are many hurdles to do so, as noted on the expansion with BC, also for pipelines to the East with Quebec, and regulatory creep with the feds.
Because they can't get more product to other markets, AB is forced to sell more of its product to the US and take a discount, that's just normal economics because the US is also resource rich.
Alberta is not 'pounding' the separation drums. There has been intrusion into the clearly defined separation of powers in the constitution, and the Alberta government is likely anticipating more, and so is providing a path to respond to those. Quebec has been a master at this and negotiating for their province, I see no reason why Alberta shouldn't do the same. There is definitely a sector in the province who have given up on Canada including other provinces listening to Alberta's concerns, so depending on how things progress, that sector will either grow or shrink. Up to you.
The whole thing is ridiculous, Trump makes a few comments, and most of Canada's politicians start squawking about how the world is falling apart instead of trying to negotiate with him. And that is definitely a manipulation, but it appears to have worked for them as the polls definitely changed as the people responded to the histrionics. |
