PBO says Trans Mountain pipeline to result in net loss for government

OTTAWA – The Parliamentary Budget Officer says the federal government now stands to lose money from its investment in the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The latest analysis shows the net present value of the pipeline is negative $600 million, leaving it worth about $1.2 billion less than the PBO’s estimate in December 2020.

Estimated construction costs of the pipeline have skyrocketed from $12.6 billion to $21.4 billion since the last report and the completion date has been pushed back a year to the end of 2023.

In 2019 a PBO report had pegged the cost of the pipeline expansion at $3.6 billion and $4.6 billion.

The PBO says that if the government were to stop construction this month and cancel the project indefinitely then the government would need to write off over $14 billion in assets.

The federal government bought the pipeline, and the unfinished work to increase its capacity by twinning it, in August 2018 for $4.4 billion.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2022.