With the words “Drill, baby Drill” Donald Trump put into sharp focus a Canadian reality that will test those of us in the West.
Trump’s Inaugural address put the fossil fuel industry back in favor with a mission to make the US not only energy independent but a bigger exporter.
For an oil producer like Saskatchewan, which ships much of its production through pipelines, this could be good but it may also be problematic.
If he restricts imports or tariffs them, we will be forced to find alternate markets. And, as a landlocked region, that means our only option is to go east.
And central Canada has a longstanding history of preventing that.
Remember a Quebec premier saying there is no social license for a pipeline across his province. Even dating back to Pierre Trudeau, when he rejected a plan for a short extension that would have linked western oil with eastern refiners, there has been resistance to Western oil finding its way into gas tanks in cars in Toronto.
That central Canadian protectionism may prove to be very expensive for the entire nation.
