ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the pre-nep legacy of the government-industry relationship through a more detailed analysis of six key events of the 1947–1979 period introduced in Chapter 3. These events are: the Trans-Canada Pipeline (tcpl); the Borden Commission’s decisions on natural gas exports and the Alberta-Montreal oil pipeline, and the Diefenbaker government’s subsequent decision to establish a National Oil Policy; the establishment of Petro-Canada; the Syncrude bailout; the northern pipeline decision; and finally, the Clark government’s 1979 energy policy. A re-examination of these events, through a focus on the government-industry relationship of power, will help us develop a comprehensive understanding of this relationship as it evolved and as it stood in 1980, when the Liberals formulated and introduced the nep. This understanding is necessary in order to appreciate the impact of the nep and to comprehend the changes it caused in the basic relationships of power.
