The problem is that this strategy works, as evidenced by the fact that the supposedly environmentally conscious Trudeau government used $35.6 billion in public money to pay for TMX. Carney’s alleged environmental credentials were also easily pushed aside after Big Oil’s sustained anti-emissions-cap PR campaign. Ebel’s comments suggest we’re now facing yet another PR campaign for a West Coast pipeline being built with public money, even though experts have already determined it is highly unlikely Canada will ever recoup the public money spent on TMX.

Canada’s oil industry might not be great at building pipelines, but it has become expert at creating scapegoats for its failures and PR nightmares for even modest proposals to pay for its own pollution.