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The sudden surge to prominence of the anti-pipeline Leap Manifesto, quite strangely and maddeningly for its advocates, may have helped create the political conditions needed to get one built. As the law of unintended consequences goes, this would be a rich outcome indeed.

It’s easy to forget, as the national pipeline debate gathers momentum and the pressure on Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to deliver results ratchets higher, how thoroughly this file was botched by the previous federal government. That history is justifiably part of this debate. In fairness, the Grits inherited a poisoned chalice.

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In late 2011, you will recall, Stephen Harper’s government made it its singular mission to ease the passage of Canadian resources to market. The monumental budget of 2012 was a blueprint for resource exports. It was, famously, an omnibus behemoth, larded with changes to dozens of laws, many having a direct bearing on the regulatory process. It was rammed through despite strenuous objections to its arbitrariness from the other parties in the House of Commons.