Oh yeah, to be on the hook for the cost and only have tax revenue from exports would be insane.

I think that's roughly why thier plan was to sell it. Build it, recoup the cost from the sale, and then from that net-zero position take additional revenue from exports (and all the peripheral benefits like the jobs it supports)

The other alternative would be to operate it and be collecting money from the actual use of the pipeline. That would have a much longer return on investment, and puts the government in the business of pipeline operation... which I don't think is appropriate for many reasons. Which is actually weird because I'm generally in favour of public ownership. But not for trans-provincial pipelines.