EDITORIAL: Wishful thinking won’t deliver prosperity

Strait of Hormuz blockade and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have demonstrated just how vital energy security is to Western democracies

Published May 01, 2026  •  2 minute read

Pieces of the Trans Mountain Pipeline project sit in a storage lot outside Hope, B.C., June 6, 2021. Photo by COLE BURSTON / AFP / FILES /Getty Images

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week that paves the way for the construction of a pipeline that will carry Canadian crude from Hardisty, Alberta, to Wyoming. It has a capacity of one million barrels of heavy crude per day, increasing exports by 12%. Initially, it’s expected to export about half that amount. It mirrors but does not replicate the route of the doomed Keystone XL pipeline. Had former president Joe Biden not foolishly scrapped that project in 2021, it would be online and helping to ease the energy crunch we’re now in.

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The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have demonstrated just how vital energy security is to Western democracies. European nations have been forced to reassess their reliance on Russia for energy.

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While wishful thinkers in our midst may say this points to the need to switch to electric vehicles, what the Mideast crisis underscores is that the world turns on oil and gas. Sure, charging your EV may save you money and make you feel like you’re saving the environment. It doesn’t change the fact that the food on your table arrives in trucks that mostly rely on diesel. The world is still a long way away from solar-powered airplanes. Airlines around the world are cancelling thousands of flights.

While Trump recently said the U.S. doesn’t need anything from Canada, including our oil, recent events show he’s mistaken. The president’s new order allows the Bridger Pipeline Project to build and maintain pipeline facilities at the border.

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While this is a good start, the reality is that Canada must diversify. Ironically, we need other ways to sell our oil and gas, not because of Trump, but because another president may come along and, like Biden, arbitrarily and, on a whim, cut off our means of exporting our resources. We must build pipelines to move energy resources to the West Coast so we can export to the world.

The B.C. government’s objection to a pipeline is the biggest obstacle to this country’s economic success. It must stop looking inward and view the world as it is, not as politicians there want it to be. If we’ve learned anything recently, it’s that the world runs on oil and gas. It doesn’t run on sunshine.

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