The slippery slope of “sharing the benefits”: My latest column in the Globe’s ROB

As I write in my latest column in the Globe’s Report on Business, the Mowat Centre, a think tank on Ontario issues, thinks that Ontario should only “allow” pipelines carrying Alberta’s oil across its territory if Ontario “shares in the benefits.”  Hmmm. That’s a dangerous argument for Ontario: “the main benefit of a pipeline is what flows through it – the oil that customers want to buy. If, as the Mowat Centre suggests, we’re going to make businesses “share the benefits” of their operations over and above making their products available, why stop at the oil industry? Let’s make eastern-based grocery chains, auto companies and software firms start “sharing the benefits” of their operations with their Alberta customers.”