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While the government appears ready to make a massive investment in Alberta, isn’t it worth setting ourselves up for success instead of doubling down on an industry that clearly has an expiration date?

Trudeau has repeatedly claimed his government will invest the pipeline’s profits into clean energy. But anybody who has been paying attention is asking — what profits? His own advisors confirm Trans Mountain lost $36 million in the first seven months of public ownership. And even if they could complete the expansion without massive cost overruns and devaluation, they’re clearly never going to turn a profit on its sale.

Canada already spends about $53.5 billion annually just in health-care costs due to air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. That dwarfs any lost revenue for oil companies from pipeline constraints. We need to invest now in solving the problem, not making it worse.

Clean energy is forecast to employ nearly 560,000 Canadians by 2030, even as the fossil-fuel sector sheds 50,000 jobs. Its contribution to Canada’s GDP is on track to grow 3.4 per cent a year, almost 10 times faster than fossil fuels. Private investors are abandoning oil and gas for wind and solar. Canada should follow their lead.

Instead of propping up the nation’s most polluting industry for a few more years and letting economics make these tough decisions for us, let’s cut our losses and use the billions we would spend on Trans Mountain to invest in an economy that will actually last. That starts with a Just Transition Act to offer immediate support for oil workers and communities who are already hurting.

Boom times are never coming back and this pipeline won’t do anything to change that. But Canadians are ready and willing to help the province off the economic roller-coaster of fossil fuels. Alberta is full of talented, hard-working people who have all the skills we need to build a clean economy if we invest in the province’s future — not its past.

Peter McCartney is the climate campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.