The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Jan. 17, edition that Kinder Morgan's agreement to pay British Columbia up to
$1-billion in exchange for being permitted to expand the capacity
of the Trans Mountain pipeline is a political
victory for Premier Christy Clark.
A Globe editorial says this unprecedented payment is extremely
worrisome.
This revenue-sharing deal is not linked to anything other than
Ms. Clark's desire to demonstrate to voters that she has wrung a
financial concession out of Kinder Morgan. This is not how business is
supposed to work. The Kinder Morgan payment is
essentially a tax without the legislation enabling it, which is dead wrong.
It is also wrong that B.C. is effectively taxing Kinder for
the right to transport Alberta oil over its territory. This is a terrible
precedent. This kind of strong-arming of companies plays well with voters --president-elect Donald Trump regularly threatens corporations
with financial penalties for political gain.
In Canada, however, B.C.'s pipeline fee amounts to a tax on goods moving
to market through its territory. This is undesirable, and probably
unconstitutional. The Globe says it might be good for Ms. Clark, but it is bad
for Canada.
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