So Now I Own a Pipeline

So now I own a pipeline. Not something I would have ever thought to put on my Christmas list, but who knows - I may need one someday.

Please forgive the sarcasm but I would have thought that it was obvious that there are some things that governments can legitimately  own and other things that they should never, ever consider owning. It is appropriate that the government own some infrastructure such as roads, bridges, certain buildings (e.g. Parliament, hospitals). The government also needs to own such tools or equipment (e.g. cars, computers, boats) that are required for it to its job. It can even be argued that the government has some responsibility to have some ownership in such things as transportation systems when no one else is able to do so. But never, never should  the government ever decide to buy a private corporation, one that historically made millions of dollars, just so that company faces no more risks.

That the government of Canada now owns a pipe lines raises all sorts of questions and potential liabilities. The most obvious question is there anyone in the government or its bureaucracy that knows how to create, expand or run a pipeline? Are they going to have to hire back the same company that just sold the pipeline to manage it? (speaking of keeping one's cake and eating it too). What happens if something going wrong and there is a spill? Who intercedes on the part of the country and its citizens? Who defends the rights of the citizens when the country owns the leaking pipeline?

I understand that the Liberal government has made a commitment to Alberta to insure that there is a way to get their oil  to market. I can even accept that if we believe it is necessary to transport oil to the west coast, that the pipeline is the safest and most effective way of doing it. I just cannot understand why I, as a tax payer, should have to bail out a company who got cold feet. If no private company wanted to accept the risk, then perhaps it is just a bad idea. Surely there was a better place to invest four billion dollars. Even within the oil industry, there must have been  better way to help Alberta - perhaps build refineries or even better invest in developing alternative energy manufacturing.  There is no way that Canada should have "helped"  a company that wanted to get out because it did not like our legal processes; there was no reason for us to make things easier for a company that was tired of playing by our rules.

While most Albertans may be happy with this solution, it is hard to see how any other Canadians will see this deal as a good one.  We will have to borrow the money to buy Kinder Morgan's pipeline, and then once it is all done and it starts to make money we will sell it back to them or to some other corporation just like them.

I do not want to be in the business of selling oil to the world....I do not want my government to do it either.