Proposed pipeline will cross through every single Indigenous community in country

While all eyes are on TransCanada’s controversial Keystone XL pipeline, another far more ambitious oil project is quietly waiting for approval from Ottawa.

If given the green light, the Matrix pipeline would cross through every single Indigenous community in Canada, sometimes two or three times. The colossal pipeline is the brainchild of Calgary-based Asp Energy, an industry newcomer.

“We’re confident we’ll get approval from the National Energy Board as well as the province’s review agencies,” said Asp CEO Henry Michaels, his eyes misting over.

“I can’t believe how freakin’ excited I am about this project!”

The multi-million kilometer pipeline is meant to carry crude oil originating in Alberta to hungry refineries in the east. Its proposed path will take it through every single First Nation, Métis and Inuit community in the country, while miraculously avoiding large urban centres and other non-Indigenous settlements.

Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said the pipeline will create thousands of good jobs during the lengthy construction phase, while strengthening the Canadian resource industry.

“This project is good for Canada and it’s good for the economic well-being of our Indigenous communities,” he said.

“It’s an act of pure reconciliation too, somehow.”

Michaels said that a ‘fulsome’ consultation process would begin with affected Indigenous communities, just as soon as it was time to put shovels in the ground.