HALIFAX—The U.S. government’s decision to stall the Keystone XL pipeline project will harm American energy security and the economies of both the U.S. and Canada, says the federal finance minister.
Joe Oliver said Tuesday that the U.S. administration’s indefinite delay of the project hurts employment on both sides of the border.
“I’m very disappointed by the American decision to delay yet again this project, which is perhaps the most studied natural resources project in the history of the world,” he said after giving a speech to the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.
The U.S. State Department announced Friday that it wants to give federal agencies more time to review the $5.4-billion proposal by Calgary-based TransCanada.
Washington also says it won’t issue a permit for the pipeline to cross the border for now while the proposed route is being disputed in the Nebraska court system.
Oliver said the energy security of the U.S. depends on having multiple sources of oil.
“There’s a national security issue here because Canadian crude oil will be supplanting Venezuelan crude oil. Let’s not forget that Venezuela threatened to cut off the United States five times in the previous five years,” he said.
“We see the vulnerability countries have when they rely on non-reliable sources of energy.”
Oliver said delaying the project also delays the creation of thousands of jobs.
‘Harper doesn’t play well’
But critics with the opposition say the Canadian government has lost influence with the U.S. and the Keystone decision shouldn’t come as a surprise to Oliver.
Nathan Cullen, the Opposition NDP’s finance critic, said the Conservative government hasn’t been diplomatic enough.
“The insult and the incredible lack of diplomacy from Mr. Harper going after Mr. Obama has backfired,” he said.
Liberal finance critic Scott Brison said the Keystone deal would have been completed under previous Conservative or Liberal governments because there were better relationships between Ottawa and Washington then.
“Harper doesn’t play well with others,” he said.
Oliver’s remarks also generated criticism from NextGen Climate, a group created by U.S. billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer that opposes the Keystone XL pipeline.
“The big lie of Keystone is that this export pipeline is somehow going to help U.S. energy security,” said NextGen Climate consultant Mike Casey in an email.
“Mr. Oliver continues to assert this falsehood from the tarsands lobby, but neither he nor TransCanada will testify under oath how much refined oil will stay in the U.S.”
Extending the amount of time federal agencies have to review Keystone XL likely punts the decision over the controversial oil pipeline past the midterm elections.
Europe Eyes Alberta Oil
Meanwhile, Poland’s ambassador to Canada says the Russian invasion of Crimea is making Alberta’s oil and gas more attractive in European capitals.
Poland supports the idea of importing Canadian oil and gas, envoy Marcin Bosacki said Wednesday prior to the start of a two-day visit to his country by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
“This point of view is being shared in a growing number of European capitals in the last two months since the Crimea invasion,” Bosacki said.
“Of course, we are absolutely in favour of increasing the abilities of ... western Canada oil and gas to be exported also to Europe.”
Earlier this week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk argued in an article in the Financial Times that the European Union should become less dependent on Russian energy sources.
Baird is touring several eastern European countries this week to express Canadian solidarity in the face of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its subsequent provocations in eastern Ukraine.
