The President of the United States told his State Department to stop the construction of an oil pipeline from Canada to a central oil hub in Oklahoma.
One of the side effects was to wipe out a large number of construction jobs in the U.S.. But that was a perverse side effect for the United States and a beneficial side effect for Canada.
In this article, the author points out that the oil flow from the United States is already moving north from Texas to the Midwest for processing and already moving from the northern plains along the same lines that the Keystone XL pipeline was planned. (Thanks to Alex)
The consequence is that Canada will not be wasting resources shipping oil or gas to an area that is already exporting both, the central U.S.,and will soon become a major global producer exporting in every direction.
Canada can now focus on the appropriate use of its resources which is to transport oil and gas to the Pacific for shipment to China and Japan.
What may have been good or bad policy in the United States turns out to have been very beneficial for Canada.
Barack Obama may inadvertently be president of Canada.
