Lack of pipelines, refineries will lower Canadian quality of life: analyst
Posted Apr 24, 2018 7:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Get ready to pay more at the pump over the next few days. Gas prices have started climbing over $1.30 a litre at stations across Calgary.
A couple of cents may not seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but there are new warnings that everyone’s cost of living will keep going up if Canada doesn’t get some new pipelines and/or refineries.
Gasbuddy.com’s Dan McTeague said delays with Line 3 and Line 5, pipelines into the US, are just a couple examples of the risk to Canada’s economy, but the cancellation of Energy East, Northern Gateway and for now, Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline, can also be added to the list.
“If you don’t like $1.30 for a litre of gasoline, the sky’s the limit if you undermine Canada’s ability to export or refine its products,” he explained.
He believes Canadians need to decide what their priorities are.
“Do we want a sustainable, long-term future for Canada’s energy sector or do we not?” he asked. “Do we want affordable energy prices competitive with our neighbours to the south or not?”
McTeague said the bottom line is environmentalists are putting the Canadian economy at risk, stating if Canadians want to hurt themselves, then continue to let the green elements of the country run the nation into the ground.
“If you can’t build a pipeline, it’s unlikely you’re going to be building a refinery in an environment where the same groups who are protesting Canadian oil are also wanting to reduce Canadian emissions to 30 per cent below current standards,” he said, pointing out no one else in the world is close to that mark.
McTeague added no other nation with resources like Canada has allowed themselves to be hemmed in by a small but determined group of people who are using the courts to undermine the energy sector.
He said those who cheer for an end to the energy sector may want to consider how the country will pay for the social programs it funds or equalization programs that keep Canada together.
“If we are prepared to compromise, or lessen that, we had better be prepared for a significant change in our standard of living and I think most of us would find that is not going to lead to prosperous future but a bleak outlook for Canada,” warned McTeague.
