The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition TransCanada's twin-cities news conference to announce the filing of its Energy East application to the National Energy Board was pipeline theatre at its finest. The Post's Claudia Cattaneo writes after 18 months of planning, the company presented to the world a 30,000-page document to provide evidence in support of the $12-billion project. There were panels of top executives in both Toronto and Quebec City to explain the benefits, representatives of business, trade unions, and municipalities present to demonstrate the depth and breadth of support, simultaneous French/English translation and no question left unanswered -- about whether the project threatens beluga whales, whether it contributes to climate change or whether the company deserves to be trusted given some recent incidents in its system. There were consultations with 5,000 landowners, more than 160 first nations and Metis communities, 7,000 people in 100 open houses during the past 18 months across six provinces. It is all part of the energy industry's adaptation to a "social licence" obsessed world. Pipeline outfits like TransCanada want to influence public opinion before others do it for them.