| "So the Alcan p group p has v won n the National 1 Energy +
_ Board’s hand, and the consortium of multinational
oil companies known as Canadian Arctic Gas Line _
Ltd. has bitten the dust. The prize is approval to_

2 2, July 13, 1977 - North Shore News

build a pipeline across part of northern Canada,
from American oilfields in Alaska’to existing
_pipelines in northern Alberta, and thence to the
United States markets. It is ‘an express line’ to

carry gas directly to the States. The winners are

talking about the tremendous. difficulties they
have yet to overcome, and the losers are gnashing

their corporate teeth and saying nothing.

The whole thing reminds

me of the instruction given to.

a typewriter salesman.
‘Don’t ask the prospect
whether he wants a type-
writer or not. Instead, ask
him if he wants a red one or a
black one.”’
fashion we have been sold
the whole idea of a pipeline. I
think this is probably the
biggest snow job ever exper-
ienced by Canadians, and
we’ve had-a great many
others to compare it with.

Do we want the pipeline?
is it in our national interest to
have such a pipeline? The
National Energy Board says

.. that Canada will benefit .
because a spur to be built on

the. pipeline will allow
Canada’s own Arctic gas to
be fed into the tube and
moved to Canadian markets
which the NEB says will be
requiring the gas by the early
1980’s. What they don’t say
is that Canada is still a net
exporter of petroleum, and if
this export were to cease we.
would have enough oil and
gas to last us until the
1990’s—without using up the

reserves of the McKenzie .

valley.

‘Supporters of the pipeline
-say that it will be beneficial. I
assume they mean that it will
create employment and will
not cause too much environ-
- mental damage. I think both

of those premises bear.

looking at. The. environ-
mental impact of the pipeline
_can be guessed at—and it
will in no way be beneficial to
the land it crosses. The
impact of a project of the size
of the line on the Canadian
economy (it is estimated at

VERIFIED CIRCULATION. 46,000. «|

In just this

$10 billion, give or take ten
per cent) has yet" ‘to be
calculated. ~~

STEEL MILLS REOPENED —

It can be surmised, how-
ever, that it will mean the
reopening of the Ontario
steel mills to supply some of
the thousands of miles of
steel pipe needed. The mills
employ _ people, and the
money paid to them -is

supposed to ‘stimulate’ the
economy of the area invol-

ved. The pipeline project is
short term, and I think that
the probable consequences

are not all that attractive.

The mills. will .start. up,
workers will flock to the steel

‘towns in the same way that

they came to the shipyards
during. the war. And when

‘the pipe order is finished,

what then? The demand for
steel pipe in | mammoth

quantities i is not high enough
- t@ maintain the sieel towns.

Building up big work forces

to do short term projects can
easily result in massive

unemployment and great

strain on welfare systems
..When the projects are over.

Pipeline crews, thousands
of men making ‘good mon-
ey,’ will be spending millions
in the communities that the

‘pipeline passes through. The

effect of all this money on
local economies and _ local
cultures is not always bene-

‘ficial. Alcoholism and bewil-

derment are the rule, rather
than the exception, for
people who live in areas
where massive construction
jobs are created. The crews
will go away leaving the
locals with a lot of muddy

11139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M. 244 :

OFFICE/NEWS: (604) 980-0511
‘CLASSIFIED: 980-3464 CIRCULATION: 986-1337 |

" cause a great deal of damage

_incapable of managing its

_has virtually no control over

roads, empty ‘accommodat-_
ions and an artifically balloo- ©
ned local economy.

“Over half the money
‘required will be raised in
Canadian markets’’ say the-
promoters. That’s good? The
demand for capital, espec-
jially risk capital, is high in
Canada, and has been high
for some time. A project of
this size could quite conceiv-
ably cause a drying up of the
Canadian money market and

to Canadian -business and
‘Canadian enterpreneurship.

The balance of the money
spent in Canada will be
- American money. American
money must be spent to buy
American goods, and Amer-
ican goods are made with
American labour. Goods .
made with American labour

will not be made with

Canadian labour. Compren- _
ez-vous? The ~° Americans |
always were better traders

than us, and now they are

exporting their unemploy-
ment. >

BUNGLING
IMCOMPETENCE

The ‘Canadian _govern-
ment, through the NEB, ‘has
endorsed the Alcan proposal,
and the required approval by

_the Cabinet is almost a
rubber stamp. Surely the

bungling imcompetence: of.

_the federal. government. ‘is |
well enough known to make
that a loud- warning - to
Canadian: taxpayers. Clearly

way out of a wet paper bag,
‘the federal government has,
over the past few years,
proven itself to be. synony-
mous with graft, naivete and
incompetence. As revealed
in the Sky Shops affair and in
the sale of Candu reactors, —
the federal government has |
come off very badly when-.

ever its laundry was washed —
in public. The government

either the civil ‘Service or its
_ estimates.

We have let our civil @
service grow until it is our.
largest. employer in ‘the
country. Over 40% of .the
GNP goes towards support- 7%
ing the bureaucracy. In my §&
opinion the Canadifin civil Fa
service is sick with the kind —%
of disease that makes an §&
organism swell up before it

i dies. |

Featherbedding,  nep-

I otism, favouritism, graft, Hi
rigidity, incompetence. and

stupidity are dismayingly
prevalent in all branches of

NEB is a branch of the same
‘tree, and I would be very &

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LINCOLN
* MERCURY

4 Babe Pratt
for Ritchie Motors

x

- Publisher Peter Speck

Assoclate Publiaher Rob’: “Graham /Edlitee-la-Chitef
Neel Wright/News Guillermo Lam/Piotes  Elis-
worth Dickson/Production Marna Leiren/Advertis-
ing Kristi Vidler/Clnsaified Berni Hilliatd/Circula-
tion Yvonne Chapman/Administration Barbara
Haywood/Accounts Sylvia Sorensen.

' surprised if the NEB was any ff | vo *« Cape a” r Ford Trocks— | a
exception to the rot affecting & a Ty a HEE oT ioe
- the rest of the tree. And they J EEA al § ae i : | )

teli us we need a pipeline,
and where it should be built, ag
and who should build it.  -

The life of the Alaskan
oilfields has been estimated
as eight years. What hap-
pens to the Canadian reser-
ves when the Americans run

“BALES & LEASING-1160 MARINE, NORTH VAN oe | ech ro
PARTS & ACCESSORIES-1160 MARINE, N: VAN ps
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COLLISION SERVICE-1825 WELCH ST., N. VAN.
RECREATIONAL SERVICE-1625 WELCH ST.,VAN. |

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North Shore News, founded in 1969 as a an

independent community newspaper .
qualified under Schedule 111,. Dart ii nn

Paragraph 111. of the Excise Tax. “Act, is
published cach Wednesday by thé. North
Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every
door on the North Shore.

Second Class Mall Registration Number 3885,

ENTIRE CONTENTS COPYRIGHT © 1977 NORTH
_, SHORE FREE PRESS LTD. All rights reserved.

"demands by 1985 at the

out of oil? We -are alrendy
' looking at shortages, and we
are in no position to be
_ exporting oll and gas when it
is mooted that we will be ©
unable . to’ supply our own,

<

hy. Mi .

“LINCOLN,
MERCURY,