Al Jazeera :
Canada’s contentious Trans Mountain pipeline is no longer profitable, a parliamentary budget watchdog has found, as the expansion project on the country’s west coast has faced years of delays, skyrocketing costs, and opposition from local communities.
In a report on Wednesday, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer said the Canadian government’s 2018 decision “to acquire, expand, operate, and eventually divest of the Trans Mountain assets will result in a net loss for the federal government”.
“Trans Mountain no longer continues to be a profitable undertaking,” it said.
The report also estimated the costs that Canada could incur should construction be halted and the Trans Mountain expansion be cancelled indefinitely, saying Ottawa could be forced to write off $11.1bn ($14.4bn Canadian) in assets.
The Trans Mountain expansion project has been troubled from the start, as environmentalists and Indigenous communities along the pipeline’s route raised alarm at the harmful effects they said it would have on the environment and their way of life.
