How is it that President Donald Trump has managed to so effectively push Prime Minister Mark Carney around in trade negotiations? Isn’t Carney supposed to be a diplomatic and economic wizard? Shouldn’t he have been able to wrangle a deal with the USA, considering how integrated and important trade is between these nations? The challenge with trade deals is that one needs leverage, and thanks to over a decade of Liberal policies strangling resource development, Canada doesn’t have a hell of a lot of it. About 72% of Canada’s exports go to the United States. Much of that is simply due to proximity to the largest consumer market on Earth. With a customer like that right next door, why wouldn’t you sell as much as possible to them? Still, it’s wise to diversify your customer base, whether as a business or a country. Becoming overly dependent upon a single buyer leaves the seller vulnerable if there are to be negotiations, and we are seeing that today. If Canada had ready access for resource exports to other markets, rest assured President Trump wouldn’t be quite as aggressive as he is today. Canada as a country has massive coastlines on three oceans and has potential access to almost every market on Earth. Yet, exports overseas remain underdeveloped.The product the United States depends the most upon from Canada is energy, and most of that comes in the form of oil and gas. If Canada were to redirect exports to other countries, causing American consumers to see price increases in fuel and power bills, Trump would be re-evaluating his stance. Alas, though, over the last decade, the government in Ottawa has actively been castrating Canada’s ability to export overseas through obstructionist policies. Particularly when it comes to pipelines for oil and gas..Alberta has lost billions in potential revenue due to being forced to sell to the USA at a discount for lack of another export outlet. Despite years of lobbying from Western premiers and business leaders, Ottawa has remained obstinate and choked the development of coastal access infrastructure.New pipelines to Canada’s East and West coasts should have been constructed a decade ago. Private proponents were more than willing to foot the bill. Instead, Ottawa outright cancelled the Northern Gateway pipeline and regulated Energy East to death. Then they drove Kinder Morgan out of the country through regulation and found themselves pouring billions into a nationalized pipeline expansion that was delayed by years. Had the federal government allowed pipeline construction, the negotiations with the United States in trade would look much different today.Mark Carney has been in power for 18 months, and he entered office as the trade war was heating up. One would think this ostensible economic genius would recognize the vulnerable position Canada was in and would have expedited pipeline construction as one of his first acts as the prime minister. Instead, he has led Alberta down the garden path of vague promises and MOUs while nothing has been accomplished. Private investors won’t touch the potential pipeline plans with a ten-foot pole as they have seen no real progress from Ottawa on the issue. The only person of note who still appears to believe Carney’s words on that front has been Premier Danielle Smith.Getting pipelines to the coasts falls fully in the lap of the federal government. They don’t need to form new levels of bureaucracy such as their “Major Projects Office,” which has only appeared to slow all developments down further. The prime minister can stand up at any time and state that pipelines are in the national interest, and they will be built. He can guarantee the routes and make it clear he will embrace the role of ensuring nothing stops the construction. He has the authority under the Constitution. Provinces and indigenous bands have no veto authority. The world wants Canada’s oil and gas, and private proponents would show up.There is no need for further studies. Northern Gateway and Energy East were both already exhaustively studied. We know what must be done. Those lines could be halfway constructed today if Carney had the economic acumen he is attributed with and gotten on the issue as soon as he assumed office. Such progress would have lent him the leverage he so desperately needs today..Carney could announce the lines will be constructed tomorrow. It’s the next best thing to announcing them yesterday. Yet, his ideological hangups won’t let him. Canada will continue to be pushed around like the 98-pound weakling it is because the federal government refuses to develop resource exports. It’s not only oil and gas. Saskatchewan is exporting its potash through the USA because Canada’s port development is terrible, and mining projects in every province are mired due to a lack of will to stand up against indigenous claims.The USA will always be Canada’s top trading partner. To ensure that the relationship remains as respectful as possible, though, Canada must develop other markets.Quit dithering and lay that pipe!
