Finally! After a horrible oil price collapse, after a mass exodus of multinationals leaving Alberta, after an election of anti-oil and gas activists in Alberta’s legislature, after the election of a Prime Minister who called for a moratorium on oil tanker traffic, Alberta finally got a much needed win with Donald Trump being elected as President of the United States.
As asserted in an earlier BOE Report column, Donald Trump’s win means Canada will likely (hopefully) get a desperately needed pipeline. He has expressed many times before, Trump has said Canada is a strong ally which the US needs to support. Yes he has attacked NAFTA, however it has always been from the perspective of Mexico stealing manufacturing jobs from the USA. Not once has he mentioned Canada taking advantage of our longstanding positive trade relationship.
The unfortunate situation is that Alberta, and Canada have a plethora of anti-Donald Trump politicians. Will they play fair? Will they seize this miraculous opportunity to build pipelines which they (suddenly) now advocate? Trump will be in power through several Canadian elections so if some politicians are unwilling to work on a pipeline deal, there is a good chance many will be replaced by more pragmatic politicians. Furthermore, if Premier Notley is still against Keystone XL, I’m sure Premier Brad Wall will happily raise his hand to start the line in Saskatchewan and work with the new President.
Another major issue we face in North America is a lack of political willpower to push projects to completion. Most engage in excessive consultation, however Donald Trump will see these projects built. He is tough, and uninterested in extreme eco-activism. This is very positive.
The United States needs jobs and wants to become less dependent on middle eastern oil, Canada is the most perfectly positioned to capitalize on this. For the first time in 8 years, Alberta will finally have a major advocate in the White House–and its the guy in charge. What a huge win!