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Where is the Alaska Highway Pipeline Taking Us?
Publisher: GATT-Fly, Toronto, CanadaYear Published: 1979 Pages: 4pp Price: .25 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX941 This flyer on the Pipeline argues that the proposed project would not only harm the environment and threaten aboriginal rights, it would also mean FEWER jobs, less independence and lower incomes for Canadians. Abstract: This flyer on the Pipeline argues that the proposed project would not only harm the environment and threaten aboriginal rights, it would also mean FEWER jobs, less independence and lower incomes for Canadians. While the project, as presented by the corporations, would create thousands of jobs, they would be short-term. The same amount of money could be used to also create five or ten times as many permanent jobs. Often these kind of large-scale resource development projects, which take years to complete, end up costing many times the original estimate. Estimates on projects like this one over the next 10-15 years already run between $180 - $300 billion. Gattfly quotes a Royal Bank economist who says housing and government spending will face serious cutbacks in order to accomplish these projects. The total effect of the pipeline will be to increase export of Canada's natural resources and tie it even more deeply into a continental energy plan with little freedom for Canada. According to the flyer, Canada paid a record $5.3 billion in interest and dividend payments on its foreign debt last year. The massive outlay for the pipeline will significantly increase that indebtedness. We are already heavily dependent on export of raw materials and import of manufactured goods. The pipeline will reduce money available for development of the manufacturing sector. Only months ago a broad national coalition helped defeat the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. Now the government is trying to authorize another pipeline by simply changing the route. A change of route, Gattfly argues, does not avoid the negative economic impact. Subject Headings |