Labour leaders join opposition to "jobs killer" Keystone XL

Alberta's largest labour organization, the Alberta Federation of Labour, is firmly opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline being pitched so fervently by the Alberta and Canadian governments, and maintains that Canada needs a "real national energy strategy" to develop our energy industry for the benefit of Canadians.

"Members of the Alberta and federal governments have been acting like sales executives for pipeline company TransCanada, travelling to the US to persuade Americans what a great idea the raw bitumen pipeline will be, but they are ignoring what's best for Alberta and Canada," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, which represents 145,000 workers.

While he agrees that Keystone XL will be good for the US, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs south of the border, he says the picture here in Canada will be much different. Canada should oppose the pipeline and keep refining jobs in this country, he told MPs in Ottawa.

McGowan maintains that Keystone's existing pipeline created only 17 permanent jobs in Canada, and the proposed Keystone XL will add only about a dozen more. "We have a one-time chance to take control of our own resources and build a value-added refining industry here. What we have instead is a mad rush to approve every application to develop the oil sands and ship our raw resources and good jobs down the pipeline," says McGowan.

If the raw bitumen was refined here, he argues, jobs would be created here, not in the US, and the environmental risks of shipping raw bitumen over long distances would be reduced.

In order for a national energy strategy to work for the benefit of Canadians instead of corporations, says McGowan, we would have to slow down development of the oil sands "to a reasonable pace," to avoid the boom-and-bust rollercoaster of the past. This could ensure jobs for Canadians for decades to come.

The XL pipeline is a "jobs killer" echoes Dave Coles, head of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union. "These jobs are literally going down the pipe with the 900,000 barrels per day of unrefined bitumen to the US while we are importing our crude oil for Eastern Canada," he added.