Presented against the backdrop of a looming Alberta referendum on pursuing secession, the Ontario premier's proposal for a crude oil pipeline to Sarnia met a tepid response, Robert Benzie writes.

The so-called Northern Shield Energy Corridor would move between 500,000 and 800,000 barrels of oil a day and snake from Hardisty, Alberta, to Sarnia via Regina and Winnipeg.

The plan for the Nothern Shield pipeline would stretch from Hardisty, Alta., to Sarnia in southwestern Ontario, avoiding the United States.