Pipeline Debate

The Pipeline Debate (May 8 – June 6, 1956) was a political event in the history of the Parliament of Canada.

The debate was on the finances of the TransCanada pipeline, proper parliamentary procedure, and American economic influence on Canada. The controversy eventually contributed to the defeat of Louis St. Laurent at the polls in 1957, ending many years of Liberal rule, and bringing in a government under Progressive Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.

To meet the growing needs of Ontario and Quebec with the bountiful supply of natural gas in Alberta, St. Laurent and his Minister of Trade and Commerce, C.D. Howe, decided to allow TransCanada PipeLines, LP, a private American company, to build a gas pipeline from the west to the east. St. Laurent and Howe favoured a longer, more expensive route, entirely through Canadian territory, rejecting the route of the American oil pipeline, which was shorter but crossed into the United States on its way to Eastern Canada. The parliamentary debate on the issue focused on two issues:

The opposition Progressive Conservative Party and Co-operative Commonwealth Federation planned to delay the plan with a filibuster. The Conservatives were opposed to the majority American ownership even though the government pledged that the pipeline would be under American control only during the construction phase. The social democratic CCF wanted the pipeline to be entirely owned by the government, as it was sure to be profitable because of the demand for gas in Eastern Canada.

...
Wikipedia