oil royalties

BC Premier Christy Clark’s demand for payments in return for permission to ship oil across BC lands is ill advised. It does not matter whether this payment takes the form of a claim on Alberta’s royalties or is based on the amount of oil flowing through the pipe; it is equivalent to a tax on trade and which, like tariffs on imports from abroad, results in high administrative costs, raises consumer prices and lowers living standards of all Canadians. It is rightly prohibited by federal legislation.