When President Obama rejected the pipeline proposal, he clarified that his decision was not based on the merits of the proposal alone. After he delayed the decision in November, a ploy by Congressional Republicans rushed him to decide, and the State Department to assess a newly proposed route, in 60 days. Unable to properly conduct such a process, the Department recommended he reject the proposal. “Those pesky Republicans,” he might have muttered. His decision does not preclude the proposal from eventually being realized and TransCanada has already re-applied for a permit. When the President reconsiders, he will realize that to cancel the project altogether would be a mistake.

In crude but crucial terms, Canada the Petro State, and America the Oil-Hungry Neighbour, make a perfect fit. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Canada’s oil production greatly outstrips its consumption while the U.S. has the reverse situation. As long as this is the case, the U.S. should safely and securely import as much as they need from its neighbour.

In the U.S., thousands of jobs will be created in an economy desperate for them. TransCanada, responding to initial skepticism about the actual number to be generated, has released a report detailing that a close approximate is 20,000 jobs. Thirteen-thousand workers will be needed to construct the pipeline and 7,000 will manufacture the materials.

There are various environmental arguments against the pipeline, but there is nothing to suggest this pipeline would be anything but routine. In yesterday’s application, TransCanada responded to the biggest environmental obstacle--the one that caused the outcry which initially stalled the process--by re-routing the pipeline around an ecologically sensitive area in Nebraska.

While promoting Canada as an energy superpower, Minister of Natural Resources mitigated concerns about the effect of the source of Keystone’s oil, the Tar Sands, in a speech made Monday at Hart House. “Today, the oil sands account for one-10th of 1 per cent — that is one, one-thousandth — of total global greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. Environmentalists will dispute the interpretation of those numbers, but the Tar Sands are beside the point here. Pipeline or no pipeline, Canadian oil will continue to be exported; if not to the US, then to Asia.

Proponents of the Keystone pipeline commonly cite the financial benefit as its main, if not only, advantage. I admit that the jobs created by the oil industry are generally well paying and put billions into federal coffers. But while creating jobs and reducing debt is indeed a powerful argument, here’s why I’m not buying it and why you shouldn’t either.

Supported by the federal government, oil companies paid for representatives to mislead members of the public with the argument that there’s an urgent demand for the jobs created by that industry. The government and the oil lobby have millions of dollars worth of advertising campaigns that fill people’s heads with nonsense about what opponents to the pipeline are saying. For every Sierra Club press release, there are a hundred from industry funded propaganda outlets and self-righteous conservative media puppets.

The fact is that the oil industry includes the largest and most profitable companies on the planet, and yet receive millions every year in “subsidies,” which should really be called “corporate welfare.” Why do we hand our minimum wage paychecks to those that already are the richest, most powerful people in the world? Between subsidies to oil and the double standard regulations applied to the oil industry and other energy possibilities in Canada, it’s no wonder oil looks like such a good choice.

So what are our choices, then? Not to create jobs in oil, but rather to create jobs in alternative industries. Renewable energy and energy efficiency can and will replace oil as soon as corrupt politicians and self-interested corporate titans stop doing everything in their power to stop it.

A good place to start is to invest in alternatives, seriously and with conviction; not just for the benefit of the environment, but for the benefit of our own future. What good are oil jobs when Canada has put all its eggs in the oil basket and its value drops due to replacements, or the price becomes too high to be used as the main source of fuel and energy? Don’t buy a fish, Canada; pick up a rod and learn to invest in your own future.