KAMLOOPS — The bad news is that we’re in for $4.5 billion plus probably a bunch more.
The good news is…. Well, there isn’t any.
Tuesday’s revelation that the feds will buy — on our behalf — the Trans Mountain pipeline system from Kinder Morgan doesn’t seem to have changed anybody’s mind about anything.
The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce loves the idea, so does Premier Rachel Notley, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation hates it, and for Premier John Horgan it’s business as usual.
I have to commend Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his guts in trying to resolve the impasse. When you’re already in debt up to your armpits, jumping in up to your eyeballs is nothing short of courageous.
It’s decisive, it’s clear, it’s bold. Too bad it’s the wrong move.
The late Flyin’ Phil Gaglardi once said, “I think this is a free country and one of the advantages God gives to you and me is the opportunity to make a million dollars or go broke.”
He was talking about the contractors who were building his roads when he was B.C.’s highways minister back in the 1950s.
In 2018, a million dollars isn’t nearly as much money as it was then, but the principle is the same — free enterprise is all about risk. Corporations are supposed to make it or break it on their own. Or so we thought.
There’s no logical explanation for why the federal government couldn’t have tackled the issue from political, legal and policy perspectives other than Trudeau’s lame insistence it’s in the national interest
But, it is what it is.
The arguments will continue as the deal is dissected. Protests and counter protests will carry on. Some people are already saying we paid way more than it’s worth, others insist the project is sound and it will make money.
But corporate Canada must be feeling pretty flush knowing that if you’re big enough, the federal government will make sure you don’t fail.
I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.
