Calgary Herald columnist Rob Breakenridge penned a column entitled “Pipeline project brings bad news for separatists, good news for Canada.”

Arguably, Mark Carney and Danielle Smith’s pipeline proposal will be good news for Canada. The nationalization of yet another major piece of Western Canadian energy infrastructure is definitely not bad news for those campaigning for Alberta independence.

In proving that the only way to get major energy development is to offer massive concessions to federal government demands while ceding ownership of the infrastructure to the state, the rotten deal conceived by the prime minister and premier only strengthens the case for Alberta’s independence.

Alberta has a resource the world wants, and Canada has a constitution that’s supposed to facilitate moving resources across the provinces to get them to market. A province shouldn’t have to grovel, negotiate and offer concessions to do within the federation what should come naturally. Pipeline approval and facilitation from the federal government should be the default setting. Not a carrot to be dangled on a stick in front of the province.

Premier Danielle Smith has desperately been trying to find a private proponent to back a new pipeline to the West Coast. Despite her efforts, the best she could find was Pembina Pipelines, which agreed to take on a token role in an advisory capacity for a 10% stake in the proposed line. The other 90% of the pipeline will be owned by the state. The deal is an insult to free-market-supporting Albertans.

In a recent interview with Jasmin Laine, Premier Smith said, “I certainly wouldn't look at having to build another pipeline with government money as being a success. It would be... a failure of the exercise.”

Premier Smith is correct. The proposed pipeline is a failure of the exercise and only fortifies the primary point made by independence advocates that Canada is broken.

The nationalized pipeline may be bad news for taxpayers in general, but it's a boon for independence campaigners demonstrating the futility of trying to operate within the confines of the federation.

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