I think you're purposefully being obtuse and/or otherwise having revisionist history about the TMX twinning project. I don't recall any politician "back in the day" (i.e. 2012/13'ish time frame when the the twinning of TMX was first proposed) that the taxpayers should be footing the bill for it - (or as you put it, "they could have built a pipeline"). Sure, Alberta Provincial politicians wanted it approved. I'm sure the CPC federal govt (at the time it was first proposed) wanted it approved. But that is a far cry from what this current Liberal govt did. Sure, they approved it in (if memory serves) 2017'ish. You want to give them credit for that, fair play. But for some reason, you're implicitly taking a victory lap for the fact that the federal govt bought the damn thing! LOL And again, I don't recall any politician actually wanting that, of course, apparently except for this current federal govt. That thing has cost your neighbours (i.e. fellow Canadian taxpayers) something like $30+ billion! They bought the bloody thing (i.e. the existing pipeline for about $4 or $5 billion), paid for the cost of the expansion (which, I believed quadrupled in cost from it's initial construction estimates/budget) AND the taxpayers (if I recall) also compensated the former owners for the delays in construction up to the point where all Canadian taxpayers bought the bloody thing! LOL And I guess the final kick in the gonads to all your neighbours - if the federal govt keeps it's promise to sell the thing as soon as possible after completion. Well, by all accounts, Canadians will not fully recoup everything we paid (i.e. it's looking like it fair market value is less than the taxpayers dollars we all paid to buy/expand the pipeline). TMX is a prime example why govts should NOT try to be "titans of industry" - commercial risk is too great, it should be left in the private sector. After all, if we sell the bloody thing at a loss, that is a prime example of nationalizing the losses while privatizing the profits! LOL When it comes to a commercial endeavor (which entails great downside risk) that risk (and the reward if it comes to fruition) should be left to the private sector.