Canada in Brief, Feb. 22-28

Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Project's Westridge loading dock in Burnaby, B.C. Scotiabank says the current discount to Canadian crude because of a lack of oil pipeline space is costing the economy roughly $15.6 billion a year. (The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward)

Pipeline constraints to cost economy $10.7 billion in 2018: Scotiabank

A lack of oil pipeline space, and the resulting discount to Canadian crude, is costing the economy roughly $15.6 billion a year or about 0.75 percent of GDP, according to Scotiabank.

However, the bank says the steep discount is expected to ease this year as more rail capacity becomes available to ship oil, bringing the expected cost to roughly $10.7 billion or 0.5 percent of GDP for 2018.

Scotiabank says the estimates show the delay of new pipeline approvals, which include Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion, Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement, and TransCanada’s Keystone XL, have imposed clear, demonstrable, and substantial economic costs on the Canadian economy.

Canada 150 saw record number of international tourists

Statistics Canada says international tourism set an annual record during Canada 150 last year, with 20.8 million trips of one or more nights. The overall figure surpasses the previous record of 20.1 million set in 2002.

The statistics agency says the number of U.S. tourists rose 3.1 percent in 2017 to reach 14.3 million, the highest figure since 2005, and there were also a record 6.5 million visitors from overseas countries, up 7.2 percent from 2016.

The report says there were year-over-year increases in travel from all continents in 2017, most notably a 26.1 percent increase from the region of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, and a 19.0 percent increase from South America.

Ontario’s Tories greenlight Patrick Brown’s quest for leadership

Patrick Brown’s quest to regain the leadership of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives cleared a key hurdle Feb. 21 when the 39-year-old politician, who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations, received the party’s stamp of approval for a run in the spring election.

A party nomination committee tasked with vetting all Tory leadership candidates announced that Brown and three others vying for his former job—Christine Elliott, Doug Ford, and Tanya Granic Allen—had been approved to contest the leadership race. Caroline Mulroney, another leadership hopeful, had already been approved by the committee.

Progressive Conservative members will start voting for the new leader on March 2, with the winner to be announced March 10.

With files from The Canadian Press