{"id":22048,"date":"2016-10-16T19:16:14","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T00:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=22048"},"modified":"2016-10-16T19:16:14","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T00:16:14","slug":"pipeline-memo-guiding-trudeau-govt-riddled-with-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=22048","title":{"rendered":"Pipeline Memo Guiding Trudeau Gov\u2019t \u2018Riddled with Mistakes\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pipeline Memo Guiding Trudeau Gov\u2019t \u2018Riddled with Mistakes\u2019<\/a><\/h3>\n

Economist Allan tells Natural Resources it was \u2018dangerously misled\u2019 four ways.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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Misinformed: Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr is working from a pro-pipeline memo useless due to errors, concludes an economist who studied it closely.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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A Natural Resources\u00a0memo<\/a>\u00a0extolling the economic benefits of more bitumen pipelines for Canada is \u201criddled with factual and analytical mistakes\u201d that could \u201cdangerously mislead\u201d elected officials and the public, says an economist who has pored over its claims.<\/p>\n

In a detailed 10-page\u00a0letter<\/a>, B.C. economist Robyn Allan has warned Jim Carr, minister of Natural Resources, that the memo\u2019s conclusions are \u201cunreliable and yet, based on recent public statements, you have adopted them to conclude new pipelines, such as Trans Mountain\u2019s expansion, are necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trans Mountain is one of four proposed pipeline projects, controversial for safety and climate change concerns, currently under consideration.<\/p>\n

Allan\u2019s letter documents a series of major errors in the February memo titled \u201cEconomic Benefits of Pipelines.\u201d The memo wasn\u2019t released until July due to a Freedom of Information Request. Allan, who served as president and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and as senior economist for B.C. Central Credit Union, analyzed the document in September.<\/p>\n

The memo to the minister contends that Canada\u2019s oil pipelines are currently operating at \u201cover potential\u201d; that they need one million barrels of new capacity by 2020; that lack of tidewater access has cost the economy billions and that Asian markets are \u201cfast growing.\u201d<\/p>\n