Obama Keystone Veto Would Help Trudeau Reset Alliance With U.S.
By Jeremy Van Loon, Rebecca Penty
October 20, 2015 — 12:05 PM EDT
A veto for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline would make the job easier for Canada’s new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he seeks to reset a relationship with the U.S. he says was damaged by outgoing leader Stephen Harper.
Trudeau, whose Liberal Party Monday night defeated Harper’s Conservatives with a surprise majority in Parliament, may seek to re-establish a relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama based on other issues such as trade and climate following a Keystone XL veto.
“It probably is the case that the sooner it happens, the better for him,” said James Coleman, assistant professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. “If it’s going to be rejected, which I think most people think it is, the sooner the better so it can be attributed to Harper.”
Keystone XL, which would transport 830,000 barrels a day of diluted bitumen from Alberta to connect with U.S. refineries, came to define Harper’s relationship with Obama. Harper said the approval of Keystone was a “no-brainer” and that he wouldn’t “take no for an answer” from Obama -- comments that intensified the controversy over a pipeline that faced opposition from Nebraska ranchers and environmentalists.
‘Soft Support’
In contrast, Trudeau has signaled “a soft support for the oil industry and oil pipelines, but that support is very different from the support we’ve seen from the Canadian government over the past 10 years,” said Adam Scott, Climate and Energy Program Manager with Environmental Defence Canada. “It’s likely that Trudeau will take ‘No’ for an answer on Keystone.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-20/obama-keystone-veto-would-help-trudeau-reset-alliance-with-u-s-
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