Premier John Horgan and his B.C. New Democrats now have their rewards — or nightmares — for two years of pipeline obstruction.They are Jason Kenney, as premier of Alberta, and absurdly high gasoline prices in Vancouver.Kenney has said that shortly after taking office Tuesday, cabinet will proclaim legislation giving Alberta the power to cut fuel shipments to B.C.Monday’s prices at many Vancouver stations were over $1.70 per litre. That’s about 50 cents higher than Calgary. A full tank can easily cost $30 more over there in paradise.“Take $30 out of people’s pockets every week, that’s a huge economic issue,” says Dan McTeague, petroleum analyst for Gasbuddy.com, which tracks prices all over North America.Kenney would only need to reduce supply by a couple of percentage points to cause utter havoc.Horgan is deflecting like a drunken tanker sailor. He blames gouging by refiners, says maybe Alberta should build some refineries to serve B.C., urges media mogul David Black to go ahead with a project Black proposes for Kitimat.But the only solution that would end the Lower Mainland shortage in any reasonable timeframe is construction of the Trans Mountain extension.That would free room for more gasoline in the existing pipeline. McTeague says Edmonton refineries could increase their gasoline production by about 50,000 barrels per day, enough to eradicate the Lower Mainland shortage.Obviously, no new refinery is necessary to deal with that specific problem. There wouldn’t be a problem at all, in fact, if Trans Mountain were nearly finished today, as was supposed to happen before Horgan and the B.C. Greens stoked their fear machine.There are signs of realism setting in. Last week, B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said: “We’ve gotta make peace with Alberta. They’re our neighbours, they’re our friends.“John Horgan kicked them in the shins last year and Jason Kenney threatened to punch us in the nose. “John Horgan needs to go to Edmonton and make a deal with Alberta … this crazy dispute between B.C. and Alberta is totally unnecessary. John Horgan started it and John Horgan needs to end it.”Horgan cannot admit any of that, of course. In the world of the B.C. Greens and NDP, he’s a smashing success.His tactics — inventing new policies to inhibit bitumen flows through the province, threatening to restrict shipments by truck, rail or pipe — did their job admirably.Kinder Morgan backed out. The federal Liberals bought the pipeline, then screwed up First Nations consultations so badly that the Federal Court of Appeal cancelled the permit.Horgan helped defeat the Alberta NDP and his former friend, Rachel Notley. He now faces a wall of conservative premiers from the Alberta border to Atlantic Canada.As a side bonus, gasoline prices keep rising dramatically — the absolute best incentive for every Vancouverite to ride a bicycle.Some coastal folks always say Vancouver can get supply from elsewhere, such as Cherry Point in Washington state. Anything other than an expanded pipeline from Alberta.But the U.S. northwest is also short of fuel, to the point that a Singapore-flagged tanker called BW Lynx offloaded crude at Cherry Point on April 17. The product came from Spain.B.C.’s single Lower Mainland refinery, Parkland, can’t supply the need. The only other one in B.C., at Prince George, is a 12,000-barrel-a-day “microbrewery,” says McTeague.On any given day, between 50 and 75 per cent of Lower Mainland fuel comes from Alberta refiners, by pipeline.David Black, meanwhile, is proposing a $22-billion refinery at Kitimat that would use “pure, hard cold” bitumen shipped by rail from Alberta.In a piece published in Monday’s Herald, Black said this would eliminate spill concerns.His plan would also circumvent both the federal Liberals’ cancellation of the Northern Gateway pipeline, as well as their mendacious Bill C-48 “tanker moratorium,” which does not prohibit the biggest tankers on earth from shipping gasoline off the north coast.That would be great for Vancouver motorists — in about 10 years.Meanwhile, Vancouver needs a pipeline Horgan can’t be seen to support.We might say the tide has turned, if Alberta had tides. This province now has Horgan over a barrel of high-test, high-cost gasoline.Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Calgary Heralddbraid@postmedia.comTwitter: @DonBraidFacebook: Don Braid Politics
