REGINA – New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant continued his western trip talking up the Energy East pipeline in Saskatchewan.
Gallant met with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall in Regina.
They talked about the benefits of the proposed $12-billion TransCanada line that would take oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan across the country to refineries and ports in the East, ending in New Brunswick.
Gallant says the project would create thousands of jobs across the country and at the same time diversify exports to markets around the world.
Wall says they hope the project moves quickly through the regulatory stages, including consulting with First Nations and meeting economic and safety tests.
Canada imports about 600,000 barrels of oil per day from the U.S., Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Norway, Wall said.
“I think Canadian should be aspirants to not needing any foreign oil. We have the third largest reserves on the planet right here in Canada, yet we import oil from other places.”
Gallant extolled the virtues of the proposed pipeline project.
“Over the first seven years of the project we’re talking about thousands of jobs created in New Brunswick,” Gallant said.
“We’re talking about an increases of $1.5 billion to our GDP and an increase of $300 million to the revenues of the government of New Brunswick that we can then invest in education, in health care and helping those who are vulnerable in our province.”