Quote:
Originally Posted by simmer2
Pipeline “under‑capacity” is misleading.
The Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) is barely a year into operation. Shippers have been testing it steadily—actual throughput always starts below nameplate capacity.
Much of that space is already contracted long‑term; the system is not sitting empty. The ramp‑up and testing phase doesn’t mean Alberta doesn’t need more capacity in the future.
Oil sands production continues to grow modestly every year.
Planning multi‑billion‑dollar pipelines requires looking 10–20 years ahead, not today’s temporary utilization rates.
Re Alberta and free handout. Alberta didn’t get a “free” pipelineTMX was originally a private project that Ottawa bought after political opposition and regulatory gridlock—mostly from B.C.—scared off private investors.The “taxpayer‑funded” part was the result of political interference, not Alberta asking for a handout. Alberta companies still pay tolls and taxes to ship their product like any other customer.Alberta taxpayers also contribute more to federal revenues than any other province—by billions annually—so calling the pipeline “free” ignores fiscal reality.
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That is the Alberta point of view. Try and think about it from the BC point of view, or any other Canadian outside of Alberta. Alberta getting a federally funded pipeline when no other province is getting federally funded pipelines is how the other provinces view the situation.
I know this is hard to do, but maybe you should take a moment to listen to someone else's point of view and try to internalize it instead of ignoring it and pretending you know better. I mean, you couldn't even watch an 11 minute video to get informed on how BC's government feels about your pipe dream.
TMX is barely even up and running and Smith is already demanding more and saying "Canada is broken" if she doesn't get her demands met. Absurd.
Maybe Alberta should focus on optimizing what they have and shut up for a minute (not Smith's strong suit). Also, Carney is taking a swing at getting Keystone XL going, we could probably wait to see if that starts up again before demanding something else, especially since we already have billions invested in that dead pipeline.
It would be pretty ironic to have each of Trudeau and Carney build Alberta a pipeline with all of the ditchbillies here hating them to such a degree that they need to get "F" bumper stickers as a part of their outward facing identity. At what point do Albertans start loving these Liberal PMs? How much do they need to help our province to change the mindless hatred into appreciation?