TMX Approved
The Building Trades of Alberta Locals will be working with our contractors to bid on available TMX opportunities as well as on new TMX opportunities as they arise. We also anticipate work in other areas. Our Locals have the skilled workforce these projects will require. We will be working with our contractors to secure jobs for our members wherever possible.
Terry Parker, BTA Executive Director
About Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion
The Building Trades of Alberta and our affiliate Locals understand the value of getting product to market in the most cost-effective, safest way possible. We support the construction of Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion.
The Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion represents the least costly, most reliable, most secure way of transporting oil and gas to tidewater and new markets. It has already gone through an extensive environmental review and is currently going through further review that will result in still more protections. It has widespread support among Indigenous groups along the pipeline’s path. It is good for jobs. It is good for the economy. It is good for Alberta and Canada.
Alberta faces a problem of shut-in oil. In simple terms, we produce more oil than we can get to market.
That costs Alberta and the Canadian economy billions of dollars each year.
Federal government extends deadline to make Trans Mountain decision to June 18, via @edmontonjournal https://t.co/qbmDawo8iM
— Building Trades AB (@BuildingTradeAB) April 19, 2019
Trans Canada Pipeline Expansion will provide a major boost to the Alberta and Canadian economies.
That means investment, jobs, and tax revenue.
The direct benefits of Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion seem self-evident, but there are more reasons to support its construction.
The United States is the only major market for Alberta crude. That leaves us vulnerable to price differentials between between Western Canadian Select (WCS) and West Texas Intermediate (WTI).
The price differential increased from $15 to more than $50 per barrel in late 2018. That was good for American refineries and the 3 big majors in Alberta (Suncor, Husky Energy and Imperial Oil) but not for the other players and not for jobs or government revenues.
As a result, the Alberta government imposed a temporary mandatory crude production cut of 8.7%. The cut took effect on 1 January 2019 and the differential soon shrank to less than $10 per barrel.
Pretty amazing how quickly this has worked. @kevinorland reports https://t.co/G7T0qEZQtN via @markets
— Jacqueline Thorpe (@jthorpe11) December 10, 2018
Alberta’s reliance on the United States as the only major market for Alberta crude also leaves us vulnerable to regulatory and political uncertainties south of the border. Think of the Keystone pipeline and Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline.
‘It’s too risky now’: Enbridge pipeline delay spooks traders in long-term Canadian crude market https://t.co/pXQTxvTNRu pic.twitter.com/RFWCg7HDiF
— Financial Post (@financialpost) March 11, 2019
Meanwhile, widespread fracking in the US means a declining market for foreign oil including Canadian crude.
Surging oil output will push US towards energy independence in 2020, Dept of Energy says https://t.co/13DS9JMrcU
— CNBC International (@CNBCi) January 15, 2019
Climate change concerns are also prompting a global shift away from heavy crude.
Large institutional investors like pension funds are putting stringent Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, principles into their investing criteria… Many big funds won’t put money into companies unless they demonstrate mitigation of carbon emissions below a threshold.
There’s more than lack of pipelines and Bill C-69 that ails the oilpatch. Let me count the ways
We need to act now to expand pipeline capacity. And we have the public support to do it. Trans Canada Pipeline Expansion enjoys widespread public support right across Canada.
Support for Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion up to 54% in B.C. — up six per cent from February, says Angus Reid Institute https://t.co/4mMajXM3L9
— CBC News (@CBCNews) April 19, 2018
TMX is not a cure-all for Alberta’s economy but it is a significant step in the right direction.
We're pleased to hear that #TMX has been approved - a second time - by the federal government.
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) June 18, 2019
Now let's get it built. pic.twitter.com/DrOCxMp5V5
BTA Welcomes TMX Announcement
At long last, it appears that TMX will proceed. The federal government has taken the additional time to deliver on its commitments for environmental protections and meaningful indigenous consultations. There is a reason for optimism that work will begin [...]
Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Delay
The Federal Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday, August 31, 2018 that construction on the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) project had to cease. The pipeline expansion is to carry diluted bitumen to the Westridge Terminal on British Columbia’s [...]
Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Means Jobs for Skilled Trades Union Workers
Yesterday, July 22, 2018, the deadline passed to identify a new owner for the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. As a result, the Canadian government is set to become the official owner of the pipeline. The investment of $4.5 billion [...]
Press Release – Trans Mountain
PRESS RELEASE The Building Trades of Alberta is Ready to Get to Work May 29, 2018 The Government of Canada took action today to back up its assertion that the Trans Mountain Pipeline would be built. By creating an agreement [...]
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Keep Canada Working
What Canada Loses
Trans Mountain
Sources
There’s more than lack of pipelines and Bill C-69 that ails the oilpatch. Let me count the ways, Financial Post, 6 March 2019
Nearly 6 in 10 Canadians call lack of new pipeline capacity a ‘crisis,’ poll suggests, CBC News, 16 January 2019
- Enbridge Line 3 delay ‘throws turmoil’ into marketplace: expert, CBC News, 6 March, 2019
- Notley’s oilpatch overhaul, CBC News Interactives