The current request by Kinder-Morgan to increase the amount of crude oil being shipped to the United States by twining the Key Stone pipeline leaves me to question weather this is a good idea.
Canada currently imports crude oil from the Middle East to supply central and eastern Canada with energy. Canadian's pay world prices for this crude oil.
The Key Stone pipeline currently ships crude oil south. The crude we ship south to our neighbours in the United States is sold at below the world market prices for crude oil.
Canadians should be asking our elected officials: ("Why are we supplying cheap crude oil below world prices to other countries from Canadian sources and buying more expensive oil from the Middle East to meet our needs")? I am of the opinion that Canada must build a pipeline to supply central and eastern Canada with our own precious resource before we expand our ability to supply any other country with cheap crude oil from Canadian resources.
This story also reminded me of the Nexcan deal that Canadian government approved with China. While watching the CBC program Power and Politics, they had a straw poll that showed 86 per cent of Canadians that phoned in did not favour this deal, six per cent had no opinion on weather this was a good or bad deal, and eight per cent thought it was a good deal. The only people that made money from the government approval of this deal were the investors in the stock market and governments. I also watched and heard Prime Minister Harper's speech about this deal he indicated that the law did not give him the right to stop this agreement. At once I remembered the two Canadian banks that wanted to merge the government of the day which I believe was Liberal at the time, denied it because it was in the governments opinion "it was not in Canada's best interest." If 86 per cent of Canadians in a straw poll felt that the Nexcan deal was not in their best interest,("then why did our Prime Minister approve this deal")? Have the laws been changed since the time when the two Canadian banks wanted to merge? How can eight per cent of the people have all the power to push these type agreements through? These are all questions that Canadians need to have the answers too.
Stan New
Prince George
