Is Enbridge looking to exit Canada?

Do pipeline landowners need new protections?

Ever since the Harper government signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2010, and the Trudeau government came to power in 2015 promoting its Reconciliation policies, CAEPLA has been chronicling the impact on landowners.

At first, we expressed concern that the UNDRIP/Reconciliation agenda would convert federal government agencies like the National Energy Board (NEB) — now the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) — into political vehicles that could further compromise the property rights of pipeline landowners.

Regrettably, we were correct.

Arrowheads and Bone Fragments

This meant that Indigenous (and Green) activists would be able to access your land by piggybacking as “monitors” during routine work by pipeline company employees.

If so much as an arrowhead or bone fragment were to be found (or “found”) on your land, your farm could be shut down for an indeterminate amount of time.

Several years later it became obvious that pipeline companies, caught up in their “Environment, Social and Governance” (ESG) ideology, were in fact only too happy to facilitate access to your property for Indigenous activist-monitors.

Is Enbridge Divesting from Canada?

Well, it now looks like the Indigenous presence on your property is about to become bigger and more permanent.

It appears Enbridge is looking to divest its pipelines in Canada, and in the name of Reconciliation.

(TC Energy — formerly TransCanada Pipelines — has shifted the focus of its business outside Canada in recent years, too).

Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel wants the new owners to be First Nations groups, the CBC reported last month.

A New Deal for Pipeline Landowners

Ebel is lobbying Ottawa to finance First Nations’ purchase of equity in his company — and perhaps entire projects like TMX — with federal government loan guarantees.

This presents the probability that Reconciliation, Green and other anti pipeline activists could be on your land 24/7/365.

CAEPLA will continue to keep an eye on the situation, but we suspect this may well necessitate a new agreement with landowners.