Former Canadian Ambassador to the United States Derek Burney is warning Kinder Morgan Canada’s controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion may suffer the same end as TransCanada’s ill-fated Energy East project. In an interview on BNN, Burney, who had a front-row seat as a director at TransCanada, said he has a sinking feeling about Trans Mountain’s prospects.

“As someone who lived through the very unfortunate saga of Energy East as a director of TransCanada, I have a sad feeling that we’re about to see the sequel. You might call it ‘Energy West,’” he said.

Kinder Morgan has started the countdown clock on the pipeline, giving Canada until the end of May to offer clarity on whether the $7.4-billion project has any chance of actually being built. The expansion has fallen months behind schedule due to permitting battles in British Columbia, where Premier John Horgan has vowed to fight tooth-and-nail against the project.  

Burney said the inability to bring new energy infrastructure projects to completion could lead to more and more companies avoiding investment in Canada lest they be ensnared by protests and red tape.

“It’s getting very frustrating for energy companies in our country and energy companies around the world to decide to do something constructive in Canada because we just do not seem to be able to get major projects off the ground,” he said. “So I think it’s a very sad day for Canada and I think the message from Trans Mountain is very clear.”

Burney said Ottawa will have to make some difficult decisions on the future of Canada’s energy sector, and it has become high time for the Federal government to separate economic imperatives from emotions.

“We’re going to have to determine at some point whether we’re going to be governed as a democracy by the rule of law, and the rule of law is very clear in this case, or whether emotional protests by individual interest groups are going to command the policy agenda of the country,” he said.

“It’s very difficult, I don’t envy the government trying to find a balance between the two extremes, but maybe there is no middle ground on this one, and maybe it needs more than rhetoric, it needs more action on the part of the federal government.”

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Burney said pipeline proponents can only be so patient before pulling the plug on projects, given the ongoing capital costs of the development and early construction phases.

“When a company is spending close to a billion dollars on a project of this kind, and can’t see it’s way clear to conclusion, well as I said that reminds me very much of the saga of Energy East, another project that was very much in the national interest but was sidetracked because of the same kind of opposition, from the same kind of forces, political and otherwise, in our own country.”

Burney said if Canada continually fails to push through critical infrastructure projects, he’s concerned what kind of country and economy will be left for future generations.

“I’m concerned as a Canadian with grandchildren who want to see a future for our country. We’re not going to have a positive future in this country if we can’t deliver, in a responsible manner, on projects that are very much in the national interest. There’s no question about that in my mind.”