Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Canada Buys A Pipeline -- May 29, 2018 -- First Nominee For Doofus Of The Year, 2008

Locator: 10010TMP.
 
Updates


January 12, 2024: update

July 24, 2018: deadline passed for Canadian government "to flip" the pipeline. Trudeau's hope was that by stepping in at the last moment, "buying" the pipeline, he could find a buyer for the pipeline by this date. No buyer. So, now, the Canadian government owns the pipeline, lock, stock, and barrel. The country promised $4.5 billion for the assets to date, plus another $7.4 billion to finish the pipeline.  Simple arithmetic suggests this adds up to $11.9 billion. 

June 4, 2018: another oilprice.com article suggesting that Kinder Morgan Canada outsmarted Trudeau. Hard to say; I'm sure there are two sides of the story. But Canada has lost the Keystone XL; the Energy East; the Enbridge Line 3 (perhaps); and, at risk, Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project. 

May 31, 2018: concessions made by the Trudeau government over the years to get the opposition to agree to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project.

May 30, 2018: Kinder Morgan Inc hands over its controversial Trans Mountain Expansion project to Canada. Motley Fool.

Later, 3:14 p.m. CDTfrom cbc.ca --

The Liberal government will buy the Trans Mountain pipeline and related infrastructure for $4.5 billion, and could spend billions more to build the controversial expansion.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced details of the agreement reached with Kinder Morgan at a news conference with Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr this morning, framing the short-term purchase agreement as financially sound and necessary to ensure a vital piece of energy infrastructure gets built.
"Make no mistake, this is an investment in Canada's future," Morneau said.
Comment: this will be delayed when BC takes this to the Canadian Supreme Court, and even if the Court says it's constitutional to do, it does not mean the protesters will continue to delay the project.
Original Post
Re-posting from last night:
A reader sent me these two links. I was not going to post them until tomorrow, but they need to be posted tonight -- the two stories:
Update coming out of Canada today: from SeekingAlpha. Yup, Warren Buffett bought a railroad, Justin Trudeau bought a pipeline. I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E. Is there an emoji for that? But apparently only "temporary":
  • Effectively nationalizing the project until an operator can be found, Canada is likely to buy Kinder Morgan Canada's Trans Mountain oil pipeline and its controversial expansion project
  • The Canadian government intend to offload the project as soon as it's guaranteed that it will be built, but it's unclear if other Kinder Morgan assets will be included in any sale
From a reader, citing a quote from the Vancouver Sun, quote by Chris Gardner, president of the Independent Contractors and Business Association. This is what he says about the John Horgan, Prime Minister of British Columbia:
“In less than a year on the job, John Horgan has ripped-up the approval of the Trans Mountain project; created a constitutional crisis; started a trade war with B.C.’s closest neighbour; sent a chilling message to investors that Canada does not respect the rule of law; and forced Ottawa to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to build a project that the private sector was more than willing to deliver.”
I guess that about covers it --
  • ripped up the approval of this project -- so much for "rule of law"
  • created a constitutional crisis
  • started a trade with its closest neighbour
  • sent a chilling message to investors that Canada does not respect the rule of law (i.e., a "banana republic")
  • forced taxpayers to spend billions of dollars to build a project that the private sector was more than willing to deliver
What a doofus.

Doofus of the year nominee?

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