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CANADA OIL PIPELINES Incredible Stories: Everybody Laughed At Canada For Cutting Through a Mountain... 1 Year Later, They Regretted It PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7uNjhP0TjY Peter Burgess COMMENTARY I became a 'landed immigrant' in Canada in the mid-60s. My new wife's family lived in Montreal and my new wife was also connected a bit with Vancouver. Mid winter ... in February ... my wife and I travelled by Canadian National from Montreal to Vancouver by train. It was a great experience. At a routine train stop in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan I got of the train when the temperature was insanely cold. Train staff made sure I got back inside the train ASAP before I got serious frostbite! In the Rockies while crossing through the Jasper National Park, one of the train's engines malfunctioned and the train had to stop and wait for a replacement engine. This took almost 24 hours. We were stopped in the most delightful scenery and warm inside the train. Also plenty of food! Several years before when I was a college student, I travelled across Canada to Vancouver by road. Two of us ferried a Cadillac from Montreal to Edmonton, Alberta. I than travelled by Greyhound Bus from Edmonton to Vancouver. Much of the journey was at night to avoid scaring the passengers as the bus made its way through the various mountain roads and passes. Anout 180 miles of the journey was gravel road ... no tarmac! When I ravelled East, we took a different route further South and briefly into the USA. The destination for this leg of my travel was a place called Rocky Mountain House where I had distant relatives who had emigrated to Canada around 1900 and initially crossed Canada in a 'covered wagon' with a team of horses!. The family still owned the 'homestead' that they had developed decades before! During this stay, the community had something like a 'barn-raising' except that this was for a church building. Everyone in the community was expected to pitch in. I found myself assigned to do some of the 'roofing'. The task was relatively easy ... but doing it at the top of a church roof was way outside my 'comfort zone'. I survived ... but it was a 'white knuckle' experience! I was in British Columbia and Alberta way before the Trans Mountain oil pipelne was built and Alberta's oil resources were exploited at any scale. I have b=een based in various parts of the USA for most of the time since the 1960s. This video has done a good job in bringing me a little bit 'up to date' on the impressive progress that has taken place in this rather l;ong time! Hopefully the massively upgraded pipeline infratructure in Canada will put Canada in a good bargaining position to puch back against Trump's foolhardy international initiatives. My initial impression of Canada's new Prime Minister is that he is smart and very strategic ... which contrasts with Trump's ineffective bluster and bullying!. Peter Burgess
Everybody Laughed At Canada For Cutting Through a Mountain... 1 Year Later, They Regretted It Incredible Stories Jun 7, 2025 subscribers Canada's Trans Mountain Expansion was mocked for years. But after cutting through mountains and spending C$34 billion, the payoff stunned critics. In this video, we explore how TMX reshaped Canada’s oil exports, boosted national revenue, and shifted global trade patterns. Discover the political battles, engineering feats, Indigenous negotiations, and environmental concerns that led to one of the most controversial infrastructure wins in Canadian history. Watch till the end to find out who laughed last. Transcript 0:00 it's years behind schedule and tens of billions of dollars over budget but oil is now flowing through the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion which the federal government bought in 2018 they called it a joke canada's 34 billion tunnel to nowhere critics mocked the delays the blown budgets the sheer madness of drilling through a mountain just to move more oil protesters screamed pundits scoffed and the world watched with folded arms yet one year later they regretted it those same critics are eating their words so why did this project cost so much the reasons are laid out in a recent report from TMX blame the pandemic floods paying contractors accommodating indigenous communities because what looked like folly has become a geopolitical master stroke so what really happened after Canada punched a hole through a mountain let's find out the mountain that blocked the barrel in 1:00 1953 something bold happened welding teams working day and night laid down a pipeline stretching 1,150 km from Edmonton to Burnaby punching straight across the Rockies it wasn't just a technical feat it was a declaration canada was tired of being caught short on fuel during wartime that pipeline the original Trans Mountain line moved 150,000 barrels a day when it launched doubling by the 1980s jet fuel flowed to Seattle west Coast refineries were wellfed it worked for a while then things changed alberta's oil production didn't just grow it exploded by 2010 the province was pumping out more than 4 million barrels a day and yet nearly all of that oil had just one route straight into the US like a leaky faucet with no pressure value drained away rail cars packed with crude limped along congested routes the old pipeline maxed out and 2:02 Alberta producers watched helplessly as their oil sold at brutal discounts sometimes $19 below US benchmark prices people began asking the hard question was Alberta's wealth stuck forever that's when the TMX twinning plan surfaced not a repair job a full-scale expansion engineers mapped out a 1,000 km steel shadow running parallel to the original line but there was one massive obstacle burnaby Mountain their answer cut straight through it drill a tunnel wide enough to fit a subway train using a boring machine the size of a blue whale and that wasn't all the plan called for 52 trenchless crossings slipping pipes silently under rivers railways and major highways it was surgical 10.6 million cubic feet of earth had to be displaced without blowing up half the suburbs noise barriers went up water cannons shot dust out of the air light shields turned night into soft shadows the engineering 3:03 was admired even by critics but it didn't stop the criticism people laughed who spends billions to tunnel under ski resorts disturb whales and test the nerves of city councils just to move more carbon lawsuits piled up from indigenous groups environmentalists chained themselves to fences a former beer company CEO took out newspaper ads calling the project a disaster it didn't matter the steel kept showing up because each delay cost producers millions and every day without new pipe meant Alberta's oil kept bleeding value by late 2023 welding crews reached the summit 1,300 m above sea level near the Kokihalla snow plows not surveyors cleared the way helicopters dropped pipe into places no truck could touch and for the trickiest parts Italian alpine riggers were brought in to teach local teams how to anchor winches into solid rock when the final weld sparked to life 4:02 on February 18th 2024 one worker scribbled a message onto the joint if this mountain could laugh it just ran out of breath then came the tunnel the real prize it connected Burnaby terminal to the upgraded Westridge Marine Terminal slicing straight through the mountains heart inside three 30-in pipes now descend rapidly toward the coast gravity alone helps push the oil toward waiting tankers residents who once filed noise complaints over jackhammers later admitted the roads ran smoother the trucks were gone and the orcas that's a story of its own we'll get to it later for now one truth stands tall the mountain that once blocked the barrel has been carved into Canada's new gateway to the world a 34 billion Canadian roller coaster when Kinder Morgan filed for a 4:56 pipeline expansion in 2013 the budget 4:59 sat comfortably at 6.8 billion Canadians 5:03 manageable straightforward then reality punched the calculator by 2018 with political tension rising and the original builder spooked Ottawa stepped in and bought the entire Trans Mountain project for 4.7 billion Canadian dollars to keep the dream alive they said but what followed made even optimists wse by 2020 costs ballooned to 12.6 billion Canadians in 2022 it was 21.4 billion Canadian and by the time oil finally flowed through those pipes in 2024 the total landed at a staggering 34 billion Canadian that's five times the original estimate finance blogs roasted it memes showed the pipeline wrapped in $100 bills and cartoonists had a field day drawing oil executives joy riding down a golden roller coaster funded by taxpayers so what happened it wasn't 6:00 just one disaster it was a stack of them the pandemic turned supply chains into a scrapyard steel doubled in price one granite ridge near Cam Loops refused to break grinding drill bits into confetti landowners demanded reroutes contractors swapped work gloves for firefighting gear after two wildfires scorched project zones melting cables and shutting down entire sections then came the insurance hikes and the lawsuits and the delays on paper it looked like a project spiraling out of control critics argued that Canada would never recover the money but in the background Ottawa's economists were doing a different kind of math a 2023 report by Ernst and Young estimated TMX could add 9.2 billion Canadians to GDP and generate 2.8 billion Canadians in tax revenue through 2043 even the Bank of Canada baked a 0.25% GDP bump into its 2024 Q2 forecast 7:04 long-term this wasn't just a pipe it was a lever a tool to shift Alberta's oil from discount bin to premium shelf and here's the twist ottawa never planned to hold on to the pipeline forever the idea was to finish it stabilize the flow then sell it crown owned doesn't mean Crown kept several indigenousled consortiums are already being considered as buyers once the toll rates are finalized the banks are circling everyone knows the real value of TMX won't be clear until after the dust settles that toll issue is front and center right now interim shipping fees sit around $10.88 Canadian per barrel almost double what Enbridge charges naturally producers like Suncor and Canadian Natural are furious they've taken their grievances to the Canada Energy Regulator which is expected to issue a final ruling soon that decision could shift the entire economics of the 8:00 project in the meantime 20% of pipeline space is held open for monthly spot bids that's key as Asian demand ramps up traders believe those spot barrels could fetch a premium offsetting fixed rate headaches and making the economics look a whole lot better let's not forget the alternative rail exports cost about $15 Canadian more per barrel and generate nearly triple the emissions even critics admit pipelines remain the cheapest lowest emission conveyor belt for heavy crude so yes it was messy expensive and politically radioactive but Ottawa kept writing checks for a reason and now the big gamble is live the oil is moving the tolls are under review and that 300,000 barrel per day expansion option still sits on the table why everybody laughed laughter doesn't always come from joy sometimes it's born from disbelief and for years the Trans 9:01 Mountain expansion was the butt of every joke in Canadian politics environmental circles and boardrooms alike protest camps dotted the landscape like wildfire scars courtrooms turned into revolving doors for injunctions appeals and constitutional battles and then came the number that triggered audible gasps a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic through the Salish Sea environmental groups sounded the alarm the southern resident killer whale population already critically endangered hovered around 73 individuals marine biologists warned that even modest increases in ship noise could disrupt their echolocation the very thing they depend on to hunt ottawa refused an emergency order to halt construction offering instead something called adaptive management critics heard that as 'Trust us we'll figure it out later.' Indigenous nations led the most powerful opposition that sla the sequ and others 10:04 pointed out a basic truth this was unseated territory no pipeline should be laid without consent marches turned federal office lobbies into drum circles some investment firms joined the resistance warning that TMX was a stranded asset in a world sprinting toward renewables the media caught on quickly one phrase made it from protest signs to editorial headlines cutting through sacred land to fuel yesterday's economy and that's when the real laughter began at backyard barbecues and morning radio shows people scoffed at the idea of spending 34 billion Canadian dollars on a project that even oil majors were backing away from to many it seemed like Canada had doubled down on a bet everyone else had already folded then came the legal twist in 2020 the Supreme Court of Canada quietly declined to hear any more appeals just like that the path cleared construction was a go 11:02 ottawa responded with a 156-page indigenous monitoring framework hiring local community members to act as environmental guardians for the pipeline critics still rolled their eyes but reality began to shift some nations signed benefit agreements totaling over 600 million Canadian dollars in equity stakes jobs and long-term training and suddenly those who had once walked away from the table started second-guessing that decision the backlash wasn't just political it was personal in neighborhoods near construction zones jackhammers rattled windows at 3:00 a.m light rigs flooded bedrooms like spotlights families woke up to laundry covered in dust trans Mountain scrambled to ease tensions stacking shipping containers like Lego blocks wrapping them in acoustic blankets and calling them noise barriers people mocked them until they worked and then came the unexpected 12:00 perks newly paved roads upgraded fire stations high-speed internet to towns that had long operated on dialup municipal councils who had once passed anti-pipeline resolutions now quietly accepted the infrastructure upgrades one year after completion many of those same councils had a different tone yes the construction was a mess but now we're better off financial markets had laughed too esg funds dumped Canadian energy stocks assuming the project would implode when oil collapsed in 2020 it looked like a brilliant call but then crude rebounded fast by mid 2022 prices had climbed back to $90 per barrel and rail bottlenecks were strangling Alberta's output analysts started crunching new numbers without TMX Canada would have needed to cut production billions would have been lost suddenly TMX wasn't a stranded asset it was an 13:01 economic pressure valve share prices for midsized bumen producers soared with every regulatory victory hedge funds that had shorted Canadian heavy crude scrambled to unwind their positions in hindsight it was a comedy of miscalculations protesters underestimated the legal resilience markets misread the energy curve communities expected chaos but got fiber optics and faster ambulances through it all the steel kept going underground one weld at a time and then on May 1st 2024 the punch line landed the first barrel surged west switch on at 4:53 a.m pacific time inside a control room in Edmonton someone pressed the button valve K710 hissed open digital gauges lit up as sensors confirmed rising pressure smooth and steady a few minutes later a dense stream of diluted bichammen thick as syrup and dark as 14:02 midnight surged into motion it was finally happening the Trans Mountain expansion was no longer a blueprint or a bet it was live cheers erupted across control rooms from Alberta to British Columbia engineers technicians and operators who had spent years staring at construction maps now watched the line pump crude toward the Pacific they were ahead of schedule months ahead in fact analysts who once joked about eternal delays now scrambled to update their forecasts 5 days later a tanker named Trans Catalon docked at the West Ridge Marine Terminal crews locked in the loading arms slowly 550,000 barrels flowed aboard destined for a refinery in Shenzhen China it was a first alberta crewed skipping the United States entirely and heading straight to Asia at scale cameras rolled as the crew raised a banner on the gangway from the mountains to the sea the impact 15:02 immediate western Canada selects discount to West Texas Intermediate the notorious price gap shrunk from around $14 to under 10 that may sound small but when you're moving hundreds of millions of barrels that difference translates to over a billion Canadian dollars annually that's pure margin suddenly producers saw light at the end of the financial tunnel tanker traffic ticked up too though not yet at the full clip of 34 sailings per month vancouver's harbor still had nighttime transit limits so port authorities kicked off upgrades dredging channels installing new beacons expanding turning basins the goal hit 28 to 30 sailings monthly without clogging the coastal arteries meanwhile in Ottawa the math got easier the Bank of Canada's 0.25 percentage point GDP bump actually materialized alberta posted a surprise budget surplus and promptly funneled it into wildfire 16:00 recovery british Columbia collected new property taxes on tankers morowed at port and reinvested it into ferry expansions for economists it was a rare clean win proof that strategic energy infrastructure could trigger a regional stimulus even in a polarized political climate but not everything went smoothly california refiners raised a flag grumbling that higher tolls on TMX made Alberta crude less appealing compared to Alaskan supply greenpeace launched a live stream campaign with underwater mics capturing increased noise levels from tanker propellers the footage showed ambient disruptions before and after TMX vessel movements prompting claims that the orcas were losing their ability to adapt indigenous monitors flagged minor sediment clouds at two river crossings during spring melt regulators said the levels were within limits but the project's adaptive management protocol triggered safety changes anyway more turbidity curtains stricter sediment traps and slower drilling speeds in sensitive zones 17:01 despite the turbulence the oil kept moving by August the line was pushing an average of 620,000 barrels per day climbing steadily toward its full 890,000 barrel capacity projected for late 2025 skeptics who once mocked the timeline quietly revised their cash flow models some even began suggesting the unthinkable ottawa's eventual sale price might exceed the build cost a twist no one saw coming during those 34 billion Canadian cost overrun headlines follow the money pipeline economics usually sound dry until you realize they ripple straight into paychecks tax refunds and grocery bills that's where the Trans Mountain expansion quietly changed the game let's start with royalties for every dollar that the price gap between Western Canada Select and US crude narrows Alberta pockets an extra 210 million Canadian annually after TMX went 18:00 live that discount shrank by nearly 4 bucks do the math and you're looking at a windfall of roughly $850 million Canadian dollars for the province add in federal corporate tax revenue and Ottawa's slice quickly pushes the total past a billion and that's just royalties before TMX Canada was moving about $180,000 barrels a day by rail it cost producers a painful $15 Canadian more per barrel adding up to nearly a billion a year in what many called the rail penalty now most of that money stays in country even better switching from trains to pipelines slashes carbon emissions by up to 70% per barrel whenever critics accuse TMX of fueling a climate crisis federal officials whip out that stat like a shield it's not just about revenue it's about cleaner logistics meanwhile Asia wasted no time jumping on the new shipping lane california refineries still take their 19:00 share of heavy Canadian crude but by the end of 2024 China was importing 207,000 barrels per day through TMX a decade earlier that number sat in the single digits south Korea and India followed hungry for stable supply this diversification was no accident in early 2025 a surprise US tariff threat spooked the market sending a reminder no one needed relying on a single buyer is dangerous tmx broke that dependence capital markets noticed before the expansion many banks slapped a big fat zero on the value of Alberta's landlocked reserves but once new export capacity went live those same reserves earned real valuations again that change pushed up share prices across the bumen sector companies suddenly had room to breathe and to invest some launched pilot projects for carbon capture others funded programs to track and reduce methane leaks ironically it was steady 20:02 pipeline revenue not rail uncertainty that started unlocking greener tech that said not every number is cause for celebration pipeline tolls are still steep shippers argue they're too high and the Canada energy regulator is reviewing the rate if regulators side with oil companies Ottawa's internal rate of return could slip below 5% that's a thin margin not exactly blockbuster economics but policymakers aren't looking at TMX like a Wall Street investment from their view even a modest return is worth it if it delivers energy security supports GDP growth and strengthens trade leverage on the ground benefits are harder to miss in Hope British Columbia the local water treatment plant rebuilt with Trans Mountain money now handles twice its old volume boil water advisories disappeared in Cam Loops a new trades training center opened its doors offering 40 beds and courses in pipe fitting and 21:02 instrumentation projects like these don't make national headlines but asked the residents if they'd undo the deal and most won't even blink one city councelor summed it up best they regretted it until the new firetruck arrived money can't end a debate but it changes how people keep score and as the dollars flowed in the laughter started fade now let's take a close look at what the scoreboard really said one year after First Oil who cheered who stewed and who quietly changed their mind when no one was watching one year later May 1st 2025 dawned with the pipe humming at 140,000 barrels per day 94% of name plate financial pages ran retrospectives titled 'One year later Canada's most controversial pipeline 21:51 hits its stride.' Everybody laughed at those earlier doom posts circulating on social media memes paired before and after tanker photos with the caption 22:01 'They regretted it.' China had become the single largest buyer of Canadian crude nudging the United States into second place for TMX barrels vancouver's harbor now managed 26 tanker departures per month still under the eventual goal but triple pre-expansion traffic nighttime guidance boys radar reflectors and a new Coast Guard base allowed authorities to lift dusk to dawn sailing bands producers loved the outlet yet a fresh headache emerged even with TMX full booming oil sands output threatened to recreate constraints by 2028 and Ryad both warned the revived discount could widen unless capacity climbed again the phrase pipeline widowmakers resurfaced but this time Trans Mountain had an answer ready drag reducing agents pump station upgrades and maybe another looping project could squeeze an extra 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day without fresh right-of-way fights public sentiment 23:02 settled into pragmatic acceptance polling by Angus Reed showed national support near 51% versus 36% opposed the narrowest gap since 2017 opposition remained fierce among some coastal communities who worried about marine spills but even there the feared tanker cacophony proved less intrusive than predicted thanks to mandatory 11 knot speed limits and double hulled designs insurance databases reported zero spill incidents in year 1 orca advocates still concerned about cumulative noise pushed for quiet propeller retrofits rather than outright bans indigenous participation evolved as well more than 20 communities entered equity discussions worth up to 30% of project value a potential multi-billion dollar stake leaders who once blockaded gates began weighing board seats and revenue streams for housing and language programs in private some admitted they regretted walking away from earlier 24:00 talks that sentiment underlined a broader theme the project many had mocked was now a bargaining chip too valuable to ignore internationally TMX altered trade patterns indian refiners signed term contracts for Pacific Dilbit while Japanese utilities tested bumen burners for co-firing applications european traders eyeing Trump tariff risks booked blended Canadian cargos to Rotterdam the first such voyage in 15 years energy security analysts noted that a single pipeline had meaningfully diversified flows across the Pacific Rim a geopolitical leverage play few predicted back when laughter was the loudest sound in the room the next 300,000 barrels on February 6th 2025 Trans Mountain Vice President Jason Balash outlined an upgrade road map inject polymer drag reducing agent swap impellers add five intermediate pump stations and raise average line pressure by 15% if 25:02 regulators agree throughput could rise by up to 300,000 barrels per day pushing total capacity toward 1.19 million the plan avoids fresh trenching meaning no new mountains to cut through which is vital because stakeholder fatigue is real environmental reviews will focus on pump noise and power grid draw rather than habitat disruption balish said capital cost would stay well under 3 billion Canadians pocket change compared with the original expansion early modeling predicts the upgrade could come online by late 2028 exactly when production growth pressure peaks shippers greeted the news with cautious optimism their big fear higher toll search charges to fund upgrades trans Mountain countered that improved velocity lowers drag saving shippers energy costs and netting out the tariff bump analysts calculate a break even toll uplift of around 80 cents per barrel at current spreads the economics remain attractive indigenous equity partners see upside a larger pipe means larger dividends and because no new 26:08 right of way must be cleared community consultation may be streamlined still partnership agreements require environmental veto clauses killer Whale advocates insist that any throughput boost must be tied to quieter propellers and real-time hydrophone monitoring the company says it is ready citing pilot trials of low cavitation propeller blades funded by the Vancouver Frasier Port Authority ottawa juggling climate pledges and fiscal math appears ready to approve the federal emissions cap draft exempts exported crude from production site caps if producers use carbon capture that loophole dovetales neatly with revenue from a fuller TMX again demonstrating how policy can flex when pipeline stakes grow critics roll their eyes yet the legislative wheels turn if the upgrade proceeds Canada will 27:00 command a West Coast export artery rivaling any Latin American competitor in scenarios where Trump era tariffs persist additional TMX capacity could swing Asia's sourcing calculus toward Canada for a generation it is a striking reversal considering everybody laughed at the project not long ago regrets and realities so was the mountain worth cutting through the evidence tilts yes though not without caveats canada secured an exit door to world markets heavy crude producers clawed back billions and Ottawa gained leverage in a tariff-happy era environmental risk did not vanish but neither did it explode zero spills in year 1 beat skeptics's dire predictions tanker noise still troubles orcas yet mitigation tech moves faster now that steady royalties fund research economically the project's 34 billion Canadian dollar price tag no longer dominates headlines instead conversations revolve around future capacity tweaks and potential 28:00 privatization if indigenousled consortia acquire TMX the pipeline could become a model for resource reconciliation something critics once deemed impossible only in Canada could a contested pipe morph into a shared asset across 500 communities still vigilance is mandatory a global pivot to electrification may squeeze heavy crude demand in the mid 2030s tmx tolls must stay competitive pump station power must decarbonize and spill response drills must remain ruthless otherwise the victory lap of 2025 could age poorly governance transparency will be key if the pipeline sale turns opaque or political public faith will evaporate and those old jokes will resurface for now though even many former antagonists concede the obvious they regretted dismissing Canada's grit the same geology that challenged engineers now shields a steel artery feeding an energy hungry Pacific everybody laughed at Canada for cutting 29:01 through a mountain but the laughter died when the first billion dollars in extra revenue rolled in the project is not a cure all yet it has rewritten the map and the narrative in a world racing toward uncertain energy futures that is no small win so what's your take on Canada's Trans Mountain expansion smart move or environmental mistake drop your thoughts in the comments and don't forget to subscribe for more deep dives thank you for watching

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