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CALGARY – Major Canadian oil companies fear an investor exodus as Kinder Morgan Inc. signals there are less risky pipeline projects it can invest in than the troubled $7.4-billion Trans Mountain project through British Columbia.

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Kinder Morgan Inc. announced late Sunday that it would suspend all non-essential work on the pipeline until the federal government intervenes in the spat that has pit B.C. against Alberta and Saskatchewan. The company said it needs certainty the project will not face endless delays from B.C. in order to proceed and gave an end-of-May deadline.

The announcement immediately sent shockwaves through the domestic oilpatch.

“If we don’t understand that we’re in crisis mode now, we’ve got to get there pretty quickly,” Canadian Energy Pipeline Association president and CEO Chris Bloomer said Monday of the pipeline fight.

Bloomer also repeated warnings from the Royal Bank of Canada last week that capital is fleeing Canada “in real time,” and said reputational damage from this pipeline fight will only exacerbate the situation.