Getting Canadian oil and gas to lucrative global markets "is a priority" for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, but this week's budget didn't include new funding commitments in response to recent federal reports on improving rail and oil tanker safety. The budget did allocate $28 million over two years to the National Energy Board to help review project applications - TransCanada's Energy East Pipeline was named specifically - so they are completed within the two-year time limit set by Ottawa.

Ensuring safe resource development "remains a key priority" for the Conservative government but there was only passing references to rail safety in the aftermath of the deadly Lac Megantic rail crash last July.

The section in the 427-page budget that referenced marine safety listed Ottawa's actions in the last two years.

The budget sets the government's plans for the year ahead and Flaherty made it clear "creating jobs and opportunities remains our government's top priority."

A report on the impact of oilsands development published the same day as Flaherty's budget spelled out why the Tories strongly back it.

Oilsands supported 478,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs in Canada in 2012, said consultants IHS CERA. The expectation is it will increase to 753,000 by 2025.

The report forecast oilsands production will double to 3.8 million barrels a day by 2025.

Much of that growth will depend on access to markets beyond the traditional customers for Canada's oil and gas exports in the United States.

By recent accounts, 180,000 barrels of crude oil moves by rail each day in Canada and millions of barrels of oil and refined products move through Canada's coastal waters annually.

Both are set to increase with a surge in oil production.

In its throne speech the same day as Flaherty's budget, the British Columbia government predicted that future exports to Pacific Rim countries from its emerging liquefied natural gas industry could create up to 100,000 jobs and eliminate the provincial debt.

All those predictions rely on exports to foreign markets.

The federal government is set to rule on Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway pipeline by June after a review panel gave its approval in December.

Kinder Morgan applied to twin its Trans Mountain line last month but there's been vocal opposition to both pipelines and plans to increase the number of oil tankers on the West Coast.

The budget sets out the government's spending priorities for the year ahead.

Despite a number of calls for more funding, transportation safety did not get additional money amid the fiscal belt-tightening in Ottawa's latest economic blueprint.

There have been numerous calls to increase funding for Transport Canada.

A number of recommendations in the federally commissioned report A Review of Canada's Ship-Source Oil Spill Preparedness and Response Regime released in December urged Ottawa to "properly resource" or "ensure ... appropriate resources" to enhance marine safety.

In November, Auditor-General Michael Ferguson said Transport Canada needed to address "significant weaknesses in its oversight of safety management" and added that it took Ottawa too long "to resolve significant safety issues."

The Transportation Safety Board also called for greater safety measures after the derailment of a train that killed 47 people in the Quebec town. The crash highlighted concerns over the surge in volumes of oil moving on Canada's rail network in the last five years.

To be clear, Transport Minister Lisa Raitt is working with stakeholders on both the rail safety and marine safety reports to implement reforms. Regardless, the additional funding for the NEB - which will be cost-recovered from industry - reinforced the conviction that developing energy infrastructure is the priority for Ottawa.

"To build safe pipelines and strengthening the tanker safety regime to transport our energy exports to new markets are essential for Canada's future prosperity and security," Flaherty said in his budget address.

The fiscal austerity imposed by Flaherty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has meant spending cuts in government departments and simply throwing money at an issue won't resolve it.

However, the lack of new funding from Ottawa for rail and marine safety now suggests there is less of a priority around the safe transport of dangerous goods than there is on the economics of getting that oil and gas to market.

The budget noted Ottawa has committed $155 million to help rebuild Lac-Megantic.

In the aftermath of a tragedy, it's a commendable response, but there might've been a far less of a financial and human cost if more money had been allocated to preventing a disaster.

Ottawa can foster economic development but it also needs to safeguard Canadians.

 

_{source : calgaryherald.com}