Nova Scotia premier calls for REVIVAL of Energy East pipeline
Between 2015 and 2020, Canada lost $150 billion in energy investment opportunities, costing billions in revenue and tens of thousands of jobs for the domestic economy.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston heeded calls from fellow provinces to revive Energy East, an interprovincial pipeline that would reduce reliance on foreign energy imports.
During a Wednesday conference call with his fellow premiers, Houston urged the federal government to “immediately approve the Energy East pipeline,” reported CBC News.
The $16 billion pipeline was among the $150 billion in energy projects cancelled under the Trudeau government.
"If we needed more urgency to strengthen our country, we got it."
— Canada Action (@CanadaAction) January 23, 2025
Nova Scotia's Premier Tim Houston is calling on Ottawa to approve the Energy East pipeline project. pic.twitter.com/AAvNQyXWtK
Of notable concern was the federal Impact Assessment Act, which gave investors a hard time getting shovels in the ground, even after securing regulatory approval for their projects.
TC Energy cancelled Energy East in October 2017 after engaging in a burdensome regulatory process. Bill C-69, the architect of investor uncertainty, was later reversed in a judicial review. A federal appeal remains before the courts.
The National Energy Board, as part of an “upstream and downstream” emissions review in 2017 for the interprovincial pipeline, did not approve construction.
TransCanada planned to build 1,500 km of new pipe and reverse the direction on another 3,000 km of an existing pipeline. However, the project faced heavy opposition in Quebec and Ontario.
If completed, Energy East would have carried 1.1 million barrels of crude oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan daily to refineries in New Brunswick.
Premier Smith gives Trudeau credit for building some pipelines but questions why the Liberals neglected to pursue more successful given the success.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 21, 2025
Smith says provinces need to break down trade barriers and support more of these "nation-building projects." pic.twitter.com/ocoluEIrI1
Premier Houston pushed for all provinces to open up interprovincial trade policies and remove barriers that hinder the movement of goods and services. “For me personally, it’s a no-brainer that we need to get rid of these trade barriers.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith concurred in a separate press conference Tuesday morning. “We should be asking ourselves why wouldn’t we [build] more [pipelines]? Why wouldn’t we talk about Energy East?”
Between 2015 and 2020, Canada lost $150 billion in energy investment opportunities, which would have generated billions in revenue and tens of thousands of jobs for the domestic economy.
“Getting new energy projects underway can take time — it would take years, even if governments fast-tracked approvals,” said Colin Craig, president of policy think tank Second Street.
Canada has spent $488 billion ($604 billion in 2020 dollars) on foreign oil imports between 1988 and 2020. Among the benefactors are Saudi Arabia ($44.4 billion), Russia ($9.2 billion), and Nigeria ($21.5 billion), among others.
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) May 24, 2023
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Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-01-23 19:27:29 -0500Were it not for Trudeau’s idiotic idealism, Energy East and other projects would be up and running now. We could be energy independent were it not for those block heads blocking pipelines. It’s also time to stop the equalization scam. It encourages poor provinces to stay poor and not develop their resources. And in the next election, let’s give the Liberals a reset they won’t soon forget.