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If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thought he was going to curry favour by visiting the heart of the oil industry Thursday, touting tax changes to make Canadian industry more competitive, he was deeply mistaken. The oilpatch is demanding specific answers from Ottawa. Energy officials want to know how Trudeau, along with the provincial government, will fix the massive discount pounding Canadian oil prices because of a lack of pipeline capacity in the country. The Notley government is also disappointed. It hasn’t been told if Trudeau’s government will help bankroll the purchase of new locomotives to increase oil-by-rail shipments out of Alberta. And a group of 2,000 protesters marching outside a downtown hotel where the prime minister was speaking Thursday afternoon had their own message for him about the Trans Mountain project. “Build that pipe,” the crowd roared. Everywhere he turned, it seemed the country’s prime minister was getting an earful from an increasingly angry, anxious and frustrated province. And for good reason. Alberta is watching millions of dollars of non-renewable oil wealth evaporate daily because of the country’s inability to build new pipelines. Better depreciation rates for companies making capital investments — one of the key components in the […]
