Well, it’s done. Three non-elected economically deficient decision makers, minorities of taxpayer supported indigenous people, supported by politicians Elizabeth May and John Horgan (who should be charged with treason), have virtually stopped Canada’s last hope of getting our oil to international markets. This small minority ignored the loss of thousands of jobs as well as the significant impact this decision will have on the Canadian economy and national unity itself. This mess all began when the newly elected Trudeau government drove a stake into the heart of the Northern Gateway pipeline, a project that made the most sense environmentally because it would have provided the best route avoiding populated areas and damage to the land. Then the Liberals (who I believe plan to eventually eliminate Canada’s oil industry), decided that a review of the National Energy Board was necessary, resulting in putting so many obstacles in the way that the TransCanada Pipeline Corporation walked away from the Energy East project (which if it had been completed, would have eliminated any need for Canada to import oil from off-shore forever). All of this was occurring while the Americans under Obama were disapproving pipelines to the U.S., our only customer, (71% of Canadian oil is shipped to the U.S. at excessively discounted prices. World oil price currently is over $78.00). No wonder Obama approved of and promoted the Paris Accords with Trudeau naivety, all the while his country had no intention of supporting the Accord while America became a major oil exporting country. Meanwhile the Trudeau government continued to actively and subtly destroy the Western Canadian oil industry with more environmental regulations, none of which were applicable to the tankers that carry imported oil from Saudi Arabia and Nigeria to the East Coast and up the St Laurence River. In addition Trudeau’s moratorium on Canadian oil tankers off the BC coast could never apply to U.S. tanker traffic; all the while Horgan of BC, in cahoots with Washington State, plans a pipeline from the U.S. to serve the lower mainland with jet fuel? Now Trudeau and his band of Canadian economy destroying thieves has gone one step further with Bill C-69, overhauling Canada’s Environmental Assessment Agency that will directly affect any future development of oil and gas or mining projects in Canada without national government approval. Where once the development of resources was a provincial jurisdiction, this new organization if adopted, will have ultimate authority to approve any industrial development. The new Board will include; wait for it: one indigenous member and one indigenous commissioner! While we might approve of these appointments, we can only hope that these two individuals will have no veto power? Next we learn that as a result of the Trudeau/Morneau tax changes, national tax revenue from high earners has fallen by $4.6 billion (giving the lie to Morneau’s argument that the increased revenue would help off-set reduced taxes on the middle class). At the same time, 40% of oil industry investment in Canada has disappeared. These damaging blows confirm that if you raise taxes and increase regulations, the wealth creators will simply walk away. We can now return to “harnessing the teams”and hope that Trudeau’s marijuana lovers will replace the industrial investments that have disappeared! While all this has been happening, the Trudeau bandits have decided that any review of the national transfer payment program will not be undertaken, further encouraging those provinces that receive Alberta handouts can continue to be just as economically inefficient as they’ve always been! In the meanwhile, oil by rail has increased exponentially making environmental disasters all the more probable, while the majority of Canada’s economic growth has been born by consumers. If Trump (who was recently referred to as a narcissistic salesman with a psychological disorder) walks away from NAFTA, Canada will remain at the mercy of the U.S. To conclude, the Trudeau family tradition of doing everything possible to destroy Western Canada’s oil and gas industry continues. When three judges and a minority of non-taxpayers can prevent a critically important economic project from completion, it confirms that Canada no longer has valid leadership, any common sense and an absolute absence of democracy. I have one last question for Albertans and indeed all Canadians; who runs this country that I was once so proud to serve, a small minority or the majority? L. Leugner
