Front Burner

Election reignites pipeline politics

There’s renewed political appetite for pipelines in Canada. But do the economics — or the environmental realities — make sense?
Workers lay pipe during construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on farmland, in Abbotsford, B.C., on Wednesday, May 3, 2023.
Workers lay pipe during construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on farmland in Abbotsford, B.C., on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Donald Trump's trade war has revived calls for the building of east-west pipelines within Canada, as a way for the country to unleash its natural resources and reduce its dependence on the U.S. as its key trading partner.

But do the economics of building new pipelines — or the logistics, or the environmental realities — actually make sense here? And what are the parties actually saying about them?

Today we're speaking to Andrew Leach, an energy and environmental economist and an Associate Professor at the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

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