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In a somewhat unfortunate turn for the pipeline, which has become a symbol of the frustrations of energy-rich Alberta, after 10 years of planning, innumerable delays and legal battles on both sides of the border, shovels at long last went into the ground on Wednesday amidst one of the worst environments for oil in decades.

But Keystone and the other pipeline projects that Alberta is still banking on — the Trans Mountain expansion and Enbridge Line 3 — are less about combatting the current energy crisis than they are about setting up the province and the rest of the country to weather the next one.

“We’re not prepared to bet a huge part of our economic future on one project,” Kenney said in an interview with the Financial Post this week. “This is our hedge that we get at least one major project built. That will ensure the flexibility for our shippers and the future for the Canadian energy sector.”

A mothballed Keystone XL — which was a real possibility last summer when the company told the province it was having trouble raising the money needed to complete the project — was not a risk Kenney was willing to take. As a result, the province ponied up $1.5 billion in preferred equity financing, representing 80 per cent of project spending for 2020.