“Petroleum is unique among the world’s resources; it is more likely to be associated with conflict than any other commodity.” — Terry Lynn Karl

The debate about the Federal Court of Appeal decision that killed the approval for the Trans Mountain $7.4-billion pipeline expansion speaks volumes about the oily state of Canadian politics.

The leaders of Canada’s die-hard petro republics, Alberta’s Rachel Notley and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe, predictably chaffed and frothed.

They complained that they had been let down, billions of dollars are being lost and Parliament must address “this crisis.”

Business types lamented that the courts had dealt another blow to Canada’s mining republic reputation by slowing down another noble megaproject promising jobs and prosperity — for China no less.

The power of oil to construct narratives that bear little or no relation to the truth is a global phenomenon and, in Canada, a new boreal specialty. You can’t find a more entitled political player than a petroleum exporter.

All in all, the media and Canadian politicians reduced the court decision to a dubious concession to pesky First Nations and environmentalists and another damned hurdle for “the national interest” and the pursuit of jobs.

But that’s not the truth or the reality.

Here are some of the important issues that concerned citizens should now be contemplating in the wake of the historic decision.

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