Study Reveals B.C. to Profit More from Northern Gateway Pipeline

In the ever-growing debate that hounds the proposed construction of Enbridge’s $6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat that would deliver the products of Alberta’s oil sands to Asian markets, a study might just convince those opposed to the project to agree. Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI), a not-for-profit research establishment based in Calgary reveals that B.C. is set to receive a lions share in the construction and operation of the pipeline. Alberta, however, will still get the largest share of the wealth derived from the sale of the bitumen extracted from its oil sands.

According to the report, construction and operation of the Northern Gateway is set to contribute to $8.9 billion to the gross domestic product of Canada over a span of 25 years. B.C. is slated to get $4.7 billion; Alberta $2.9 billion; and Ontario $608 million.

The CERI report further reveals that the pipeline is also expected to provide B.C. with 70,000 person-years of employment especially in the construction phase which is expected to take place from 2014 to 2017. Meanwhile, Alberta would only be receiving 37,000 person-years.

But this is not enough for B.C. Premier Christy Clark. She says that these benefits, when divided over the course of 25 years, is not enough to counter the risks that such a project will bring to the province in the event of an oil spill. Clark has earlier declared that Victoria will not give the green light for the project unless her conditions were met—the most controversial of which is bigger financial cuts to the profits that will be earned in shipping the products of Alberta’s oil sands to Asia.

Clark has received support from Harper’s Heritage Minister James Moore who said: "Christy Clark is very much, I think, in the right in terms of her responsibility to represent British Columbians, to make sure that the rest of the country understands that just because British Columbia is physically the Asia-Pacific gateway, it doesn't mean that we're the doormat for companies like Enbridge to think that they can go ahead and do business without having due diligence and taking care of the public's interest." Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird of Ottawa and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney of Calgary, meanwhile, have lambasted Clark’s call saying that a "toll gate" approach is detrimental to the national interest.