Ribbons of Oil

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With the Leduc discovery and the even larger Redwater discovery the following year, Alberta's oil producers faced a need for a much larger mar­ket than the prairie provinces could provide. Pipelines were the only eco­nomic answer. If enough oil reserves were found, Alberta crude might be moved to markets as far as Ontario. By railway, the cost of moving crude from Edmonton to Sarnia, Canada's largest refining centre, was $3.24 per barrel. The price of U.S. crude laid down in Sarnia was $3.55 per barrel.5 Railways obviously could not do the job.

As an initial step, Imperial Oil planned a 450-mile oil line from Edmonton southeast to Regina to supply refinery demand there. Later, if enough oil were found, the system could be extended farther east. An engi­neering group was assigned to prepare design, economic, and feasibility studies, working out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Engineering and economic stud­ies were prepared on the use of varying sizes of pipe, from 16- to 20-inch diameter. Based on the reserves that had been found to that time, the deci­sion was to build a 16-inch line to Regina.

Imperial faced a political problem in Ottawa. Because of the maze of municipal, provincial and federal jurisdictions which would be involved in the construction and operation of pipelines traversing more than one province, such a system would have to operate under federal jurisdiction. Otherwise, construction and operation of such lines could be restricted or even prevented by the legislative action of any province. The federal gov­ernment had decided that interprovincial and international pipeline com­panies would have to be incorporated by special acts of Parliament, much in the manner that railway charters had been granted. The hang-up was that no enabling legislation existed.

Early in 1949, Imperial applied to the federal government for incorpo­ration of Interprovincial Pipe Line Company. Incorporation of several other firms proposing construction of either oil or gas pipelines was also sought.

Transportation Minister Lionel Chevrier introduced in the House of Commons on April 5, 1949 a bill for the enactment of the Pipe Lines Act, closely patterned after the Railway Act. The bill received wide support from all parties in the House, although during the brief debate a slight hint of what was to come was provided by Howard Green when he declared that "this oil and gas should be used to the greatest possible extent within our own country."

After a brief examination by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Railways, Canals and Telegraph Lines, the bill was passed April 29 and the Pipe Lines Act of Canada became law. The next day, third and final reading was completed on bills to incorporate, by special acts of Parliament, five pipeline companies: Interprovincial Pipe Line, Westcoast Transmission Company, Trans-Northern Pipe Line Company, Western Pipe Lines, and British American Pipe Line Company. The bills were rushed through with about five minutes' debate on each and virtually no informa­tion presented on the proposed plans of the pipeline companies, as the leg­islators hurried through their business to concentrate upon a national elec­tion. The election, on June 27, returned the Liberals to power under Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, with 74 percent of elected members.

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