Part of the problem is how arbitrary the federal piece is. In many cases, investors decide not to proceed even before the project is brought forward. Why? Simple. The minister of the day decides whether the environmental impact assessment is valid and whether the project should go ahead or not.
When the criteria are that arbitrary, it makes undertaking a project risky. When investors look at where they should put their money, they aren't keen on building a pipeline in Quebec or Canada. What they want is to be able to invest in a pipeline project that will be profitable. Because of the uncertain and arbitrary nature of the federal government's involvement, those projects are riskier and unfortunately less appealing from an economic standpoint.
In a nutshell, the government has regulated these projects out of existence [Technical difficulty—Editor].