Guts and Guile: True Tales from the Backrooms of the Pipeline Industry

Bill Martin is a graduate history student at the University of
Saskatchewan.

Phillips entered the gas-distribution business as an executive with
Consumer’s Gas in 1947, and rose to head Westcoast Transmission
Company Ltd. in the 1980s. Chronicling developments in the pipeline
industry from Westcoast’s perspective, he presents a story of
idealized entrepreneurial spirit, backroom dealing, and political
connections entirely reminiscent of Canada’s many romantic pulp
railway histories. And, as in any good romance, Phillips includes heroes
(mostly Westcoast executives) and villains (mostly politicians).

That Phillips has taken a romantic approach to his industry should not
be surprising. Not only has the industry been very good to him, but it
is full of intrigue, risk, failure, and success—the perfect
ingredients for romance and adventure. Thus, the business’s nature
both shapes and legitimizes the author’s perspective.

Accepting that Phillips is an effective cheerleader for the Westcoast
squad, one can place into perspective what this book brings to the
discussion on the Canadian pipeline industry. From the help of one of
Canada’s most significant players in the Arctic-gas-pipeline game,
Phillips offers many valuable inside stories and much useful insight
into the other players. His thoughts on the future of Arctic gas, and on
the various pipeline routes that will deliver it to market, are
particularly interesting. Equally so are his thoughts on Canada’s role
in delivering natural gas to the vast energy market of the United
States.

This book is not a thorough study of the pipeline industry: it is one
man’s personal recollections and prognostications; still, because he
is a key figure in the industry, these are valuable in themselves. In
any future history of the industry, this work will be a useful footnote.
In a current evaluation of natural-gas pipelines and their future in
Canada, Phillips provides some rather poignant paragraphs. For analysts
of Westar stock, critics of Quintette Coal, and proponents of the
Vancouver Island pipeline, he provides points to ponder.