Trans Mountain seeks stricter injunction as analyst warns delays damaging economy

Lawyers for Trans Mountain are back in court Friday to ask a British Columbia judge to amend an injunction order limiting people from protesting within five metres of two work sites in Burnaby.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Affleck granted the order in March, when he turned down a request for a 50-metre exclusion zone at the Burnaby Terminal and the Westridge Marine Terminal.

Trans Mountain says in its notice of civil claim that protesters have changed their tactics to maximize disruption at the construction sites and to avoid arrest for breaching the injunction order.

It says a group of protesters obstructs access to a facility and when RCMP arrive, they are advised to comply with the order within 10 minutes to prevent arrest.

The notice says shortly before that time is up, all or most of the blockade participants leave, only to be replaced by a second group to which police also read the injunction order, before a third group arrives and repeats the process.

Lawyer Maureen Killoran told the judge Thursday that participants are expected to further escalate their protests starting Friday.

Meanwhile, an analyst warns the continued delays in pipeline construction are hurting the Canadian economy.

At the open of the markets Friday, Western Canadian Select (WCS) was selling at $40 US a barrel, close to $30 US less than a barrel of West Texas Intermediate and about $40 US a barrel less than Brent. Crude.

GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Dan McTeague said that works out to between $60 and $70 million a day in lost economic activity.

“That multiplied over 365 days a year, you get a pretty good idea of the $18 to $20 billion dollar hit the Canadian economy is taking because of protests and people blocking pipelines in this country,” he said.

He said the argument that WCS is heavy oil and will always be discounted misses the point.

“Mexican Mayan oil, which is very similar to what we have, delivered to the U.S. Gulf Coast is running at about $65 a barrel, even ‘basket case’ Venezuela is able to get $61 dollars a barrel,” he said.

He argued all Canadians suffer, not just oil companies, since oil revenues pay for social programs like schools, hospitals, pensions and equalization payments.

“The disconnect between the Canadian dollar and U.S. greenback, caused in no small part by these deep discounts of our number one export, that is oil, amounts to an additional 15 cents a litre (at the pump),” explained McTeague.

The currency difference also means most day-to-day items will cost more to purchase.

“On every item that you buy, which is measured in an international benchmark, usually the U.S. dollar, you’re paying about a third more than you ought to,” explained McTeague.

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