It’s time for the provinces to stop obstructing important energy projects and allow Canada to develop its full natural resource potential, Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow Dwight Newman told the Calgary Herald.
Newman was commenting in a column, written by Deborah Yedlin, examines comments from Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall arguing that Canadians should stop apologizing for developing their natural resources.
That means the provinces need to stop standing in the way of projects such as pipelines. Yedlin cites as an example British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and her “five demands” over the Northern Gateway pipeline.
“We need to have conversations aimed at there not being constant obstruction of projects. If there is a desire for a change in the law in some way, we should be discussing that and reaching a decision one way or another within our democratic processes”, Newman says.
“The idea we would have a legal framework that some would refuse to follow strikes me as problematic in a lot of different ways”.
Newman, in a December 2014 op-ed for the Globe and Mail, made clear that provinces do not have a “veto” over pipeline projects.
Newman also discussed the issue with on John Gormley Live, a radio talk show in Saskatchewan.
