Pipelines: Nation Builders?

It’s a game changer ! We need to grab the rope of economic opportunity! It could be a big win ! Economic tectonic plates are shifting!

What is all this enthusiastic mumbo-jumbo about? The West-East pipeline of course! Black gold, my son, the Alberta type. The black, gooey, slimy tar sands are going to flow east. It’s Klondike time for New Brunswick!  It’s the new national dream that will unite our country from west to east as the rail tracks did long ago from east to west; a reversal of our history. So get in the parade with balloons, whistles and drums. Don’t ask questions; just follow our courageous and far-sighted leaders.

Don’t dare ask what will this expansion of these tar sands do for climate change. You will be denounced as a person who does not want our province to prosper.

Don’t dare ask how much of these tar sands, sent to us by the pipeline, will be refined here instead of just shipped by tankers to China or India. You will be condemned as a person who does not want jobs in New Brunswick.

Don’t dare ask how much of these tar sands, if ever turned into oil, will be for our domestic consumption. You will be vilified as a person who does not want us to be independent of foreign oil supplies and pay less for our gas.

Don’t dare ask if the companies building the pipeline will bring their own crews. You will be branded as a person who does not believe our own workers are qualified.

Don’t dare ask what  royalties our provincial coffers will collect. You will be tar and feathered as a person who does not want to insure the future education and healthcare of our children.

I could go on, but I will ask one last question.

Is this West-East pipeline not just a bargaining chip that TransCanada is playing in order to convince the Americans to accept their real pipeline, the XL Keystone, that has a higher capacity that the West-East one?