B.C. and Alberta have been fighting off and on over pipelines for more than a decade now, but the latest intensifying spat looks to be the most serious yet.

When they were premiers Christy Clark (B.C.) and Alison Redford (Alberta) clashed starting in 2012 about the Northern Gateway line.

Alberta: “We desperately need it.” B.C.: “What’s in it for us?”

The fight was confined mostly to frosty appearances, abrupt cancellations and eventually smoothed out.

Their respective successors, John Horgan and Rachel Notley, kept up the fight, but over a different line — the Trans Mountain route to Metro Vancouver. Alberta: “We desperately need it.” B.C.: “We’ll fight it using every tool in to the toolbox.”

The never-ending threats, lawsuits and arguments (which B.C. lost) contributed to the runaway overruns that prompted nationalization of the line and sent the eventual cost of the TMX north of $36 billion (originally budgeted at $6 billion.)

The new pipeline, which doubled one that was built in the 1950s in less than a year, eventually started pumping in 2024 and is making billions of dollars, but the scars from the old........

© Vancouver Is Awesome