Ottawa, provinces should discuss possibility of west-east oil pipeline: Wilkinson

West-east pipeline needed?

Photo: The Canadian Press

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson leaves a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. Wilkinson says Ottawa and the provinces should discuss the possibility of an oil pipeline to Eastern Canada to improve energy security. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Canada's energy minister says Ottawa and the provinces should discuss the possibility of an oil pipeline to Eastern Canada to improve energy security.

Jonathan Wilkinson says it’s a “vulnerability” for Canada to export so much of its oil to the United States in the context of the Trump administration's tariff threats.

He also says the fact that Ontario and Quebec are served by Enbridge Line 5, an oil pipeline that runs through the Great Lakes states, creates “some degree of uncertainty.”

Wilkinson told reporters this morning on a call from Washington, D.C., that the Trans Mountain pipeline to Canada’s West Coast, which the government bought in 2018, was an “important investment” despite the controversy it caused.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods — and 10 per cent tariffs on energy — have renewed interest in a pipeline to move oil to the east for shipment overseas.

Quebec Premier François Legault said earlier this week that there is still no social acceptability for an oil pipeline through the province, but suggested Trump’s actions could change the situation.