Why do I get an image of a stampede to decarbonize — first the world — and then perhaps the universe, as nothing more than a political art auction?
Leaders of government interests, and I use that term as a deliberate oxymoron, appear to be trying to outbid each other in the race to the Zero-carbon finish line.
As in any auction there comes a time when the winning bidder approaches the auctioneer to commit to the purchase. But there is no room to bluff out on the deal.
The potential economic disaster facing, especially Alberta and the eastern portion of this country, with Line 5 getting closer and closer to the rocks of closure, has finally tweaked the interest of someone in the echoful halls of our parliament in the sleepy bedroom community called Ottawa. In the February 3 edition of the National Post, the Leader of the Opposition, Erin O’Toole clearly offered his viewpoint and clanged the alarm bells louder than I could, sending somewhat the same message:
Neither the Prime Minister, nor the Deputy Prime Minister, nor the Minister of Natural Resources, brought up this issue last week in a telephone conversation with President Biden and his entourage.
Mmmm. Huh?
In my last commentary I posed the question as to why the Biden Administration should concern itself with Line 5 as it’s merely a line that runs from Alberta to Ontario and even worse it carries that ugly TAR SANDS crude.
“The line doesn’t even go to MY US of A?” “Why should I care?”
Continuing with our baby step logic, what would happen if we decided that if Line 5 shuts down to appease the political ego of the Governor of Michigan, then we serve notice that we slowly shut down the existing XL pipeline that today carries 700,000 bpd of that same Alberta crude to the US of A, eh?
I mean, if Line 5 could, as the Governor claims, leak and destroy the Great Lakes, then the XL could leak and destroy the U.S. Midwest somewhere along its route. Right? Kansas won’t be Kansas anymore.
Ottawa could threaten all it wants, but that calls for a prerequisite of a backbone.
It would also be a bluff as there is no way of getting Alberta crude to anywhere, but the US of A; and President Biden knows it the same way our PM knows the problem, but ignores it.
The solution is the TransMountain and WE own it.
Be warned there is only one “I” in America. There is only one “I” in Biden and the “I’s” will have it their way.
Is there a “can” in Canada?
Do I have any bids, or maybe bets?
– Roger McKnight – B.Sc., Senior Petroleum Analyst
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