In 1975, a young engineer at Kodak named Steve Sasson built the first digital camera. It was the size of a toaster, ran on 16 batteries, and took 23 seconds to record a single grainy black-and-white image.

He carried it into a meeting with senior management, who listened politely and asked why anyone would ever want to look at photographs on a television set.

Kodak did not miss digital photography. Kodak invented it. The company patented the technology, funded the research for decades and built early digital cameras that worked. What Kodak could not do was move its money.

Film was extraordinarily profitable — high margins, repeat purchases and a global supply chain. Every digital decision got measured against the damage it could do to the film business, and the answer was the same. In January 2012, the company with a market share of 90 per cent filed for bankruptcy protection.

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That is not a story about failing to see the future. It is a story about seeing it clearly and putting the next dollar somewhere else.

Canada is about to make a similar decision, and it is fraught with danger. The risk is that pipeline assets are stranded as use of oil globally decreases in homes, buildings, heavy industry and transportation, due to the ever-growing generation of clean electricity accelerating broad-based electrification.

Ottawa and Alberta have proposed a new pipeline........

© Calgary Herald