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As for tankers off B.C., the Fraser Institute noted in a separate study (update pending) that tanker safety has improved vastly while oil shipped by tanker has increased markedly. There has been no major oil spill in Canadian waters in 20 years.

Clearly, while all transport modes are needed and will continue to be used, the decision about which mode to use (after accounting for safety) should be more about economics and less about NIMBYism or environmental superstition. Pipelines aren’t only safer for moving oil, they’re cheaper—up to three times cheaper. Other studies have shown moving oil by pipeline is also safer for people — fewer workers are injured when moving a given quantity of oil by pipeline than by rail.

Whether you agree or disagree with their climate policies, you have to respect Prime Minister Trudeau’s and Premier Notley’s strong resolve in advancing this pipeline project, particularly in the face of strong opposition from their own side of the political spectrum.

Of course, they not only should, they basically have to — both have staked their reputations, at home and internationally, on the idea that Canada’s implementation of stringent greenhouse gas policies would allow pipelines to be built and Canada’s oil resources to capture full value on hungry markets outside of the glutted U.S.

If nothing else, for the sake of showing the world (and its investors) that Canada can still manage to build important national infrastructure, the PM and premier should stay the course.

Kenneth Green is senior director of the Centre for Natural Resource Studies at the Fraser Institute.