The delay in building pipelines is costing the Canadian economy more than 4 billion dollars a year. That estimate comes from Dr. Kenneth Green of the Fraser Institute.
Dr. Green says, as things stand now, oil from western Canada can only be sold in the competitive American market because there’s no way to get it to Europe and Asia and receives 20 to 30 per cent less per barrel.
Hearings into the proposed Energy East pipeline get underway next month in Saint John but the project faces opposition from environmental groups and the First Nations.
