The National Energy Board penalized Enbridge Pipelines Inc. $16,000 in February and $264,000 in March 2015 for four separate incidents in western Canada. The Harper Government set the maximum penalty for corporations under the NEB Act at $100,000 per incident.
Is that penalty sufficiently onerous that a company is unlikely to offend? Not likely. In 2014, Enbridge had annual revenues of $38 billion, total assets of $73 billion and equity of $19 billion. Statistics Canada reports median annual income of Canadians is $27,600 and median net worth per individual is about $85,000.
So, comparing annual revenues, a fine of $100,000 (Read more…)
