Gordon Laxer is a political economy professor and the founding director and former head of Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta.
by Gordon Laxer
For years I was a voice in the wilderness calling for an oil pipeline to bring western oil to Eastern Canada. Now that TransCanada and Enbridge each have plans to build one, I should be pleased. But I'm not.
by Gordon Laxer
October always brings shorter days, falling leaves and the bite of frost. This year, frost in Alberta is also coming from politics, as British Columbia Premier Christy Clark digs in her heels over the proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline to take sands oil to China.
In landlocked Alberta, tarsands operators are desperate to get their bitumen to ocean side, any ocean side, to find the sweet spot of much higher international prices. Blocked by US President Barack Obama from getting to the Texas Gulf coast by a temporary hold on the Keystone XL pipeline, corporate hopes quickly shifted to pipelines to the BC coast.
As BC opposition to oil pipelines rises, eyes turn east.
