'Steer the market': Study finds $23B in federal, provincial pipeline support by Bob Weber, The Canadian Press Posted Jul 6, 2021 12:05 am EDT Last Updated Jul 6, 2021 at 12:14 am EDT Taxpayer dollars are heavily distorting Canada’s financial marketplace in favour of fossil fuel pipelines, new research suggests. The International Institute for Sustainable Development says spending by provincial and federal governments combined with the value of loan guarantees and other fiscal instruments intended to help get the lines built is worth a total of $23 billion. The great majority of that money isn’t in direct subsidies to the now-defunct Keystone XL or ongoing Trans Mountain and Coastal GasLink projects, said report author Vanessa Corkal. But backstopping loans and reducing other kinds of risks for pipelines encourages companies to make choices they wouldn’t otherwise make, she said.