Pipelines seem more popular amid Trump’s threats. But does it make sense to build new ones? [Video]

When the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion opened on May 1, 2024, carrying oil from Alberta to the B.C. coast, there was no grand opening ceremony. The federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which had bought the project and spent over $34 billion — making the pipeline one of the largest infrastructure projects ever built in Canada — said almost nothing about it.

“This was a thing that the Liberal government did right for the oil sector … and they didn’t celebrate it at all. There was no ribbon cutting ceremony,” said Rory Johnston, founder of Commodity Context, an oil market research service.

Even Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a major Trudeau antagonist, thanked the federal Liberals for finishing the pipeline, saying that it would be a “game-changer” for Alberta’s oil industry and hailing it as an example of federal-provincial cooperation.

But the Liberals were heavily criticized for the pipeline from climate advocates, who saw it as the government betraying …