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If you’re looking for something to add to your reading list this summer, might I suggest something historic and important?

I should point out it has no car chases or explosions and it’ll never be made into a movie.

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And, to be honest, it’s not exactly a page-turner.

But it should be required reading for anyone concerned with Alberta getting more of its energy products to market — and wondering why we have failed the past decade.

The owner of the proposed pipeline, Enbridge, is not the bad guy in this tale. The guys in the black hats were all working for the Harper government.

It’s the 150-page decision from the Federal Court of Appeal overturning approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline project. The decision, released last week, slams the federal government for failing to properly consult First Nations affected by the proposed pipeline that would pump Alberta bitumen to Kitimat, B.C., for shipment overseas.

We’re talking here about the old Conservative government, not the current Liberal government. That’s a crucial distinction and one that must be galling to any Conservative supporter who thought the old Stephen Harper government was doing all it could to get new pipelines built. It wasn’t.