1970's article debating pipeline

Canadians question the proposed Mackenzie pipeline

Broadcast Date: Jan. 28, 1973

Billions of cubic metres of oil and gas have been found in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay and in Canada's Mackenzie Delta. Some industry analysts say the discovery comes just in time to avert an energy crisis. The federal government and gas companies act on the discoveries by rushing towards a multibillion-dollar pipeline construction project. But some Canadians are starting to feel like the most important economic development in the history of the North is being rammed down their throats.

At a public forum in Toronto, Canadian Arctic Gas Pipeline chairman William Wilder and Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources Donald Macdonald talk about the urgent need for a northern pipeline. Then the sparks begin to fly. University professor and former Liberal cabinet member Eric Kierans takes the microphone and unleashes a barrage of pointed questions about a pipeline development he feels is rushed, flawed and dangerous.