Kenney says province prepared to take over Keystone XL pipeline
Premier Jason Kenney says Alberta is the best choice to supply energy to the United States and wants to revive the Keystone XL pipeline.
$1.3 billion has already been sunk into the cancelled Keystone XL pipeline. However, the premier said if he had political certainty from Washington that the pipeline could be completed and if the pipeline’s owner, TC Energy, won’t fund it, the province could.
“Yes we would be prepared in principle to de-risk the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline,” said Kenney.
“Obviously I would prefer that it be privately financed," Kenney said Friday, "but if political uncertainty created by the Biden veto makes that impossible we would be creative.”
REPLACING RUSSIAN OIL
The push comes as the United States is looking to replace its imports of Russian oil after the invasion of Ukraine. During an international energy conference in Houston this week, Kenney and energy minister Sonya Savage touted Canada as the best choice for the U.S.’s oil supply, instead of turning to countries with what they call “dictator oil”.
“It’s terribly frustrating to see the U.S. government now scrambling to increase supply from some of the world’s worst regimes like Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and yet we sit next door on top of the third largest reserves,” said Savage.
In a statement, Tim McMillan, President and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said “the Keystone XL pipeline was an economically viable project that would have helped the U.S. meet its need for oil without having to rely on dictatorships like Russia and Venezuela while strengthening North American energy security and cooperation with Canada."
Furthermore, “if there is political will on both sides of the border to deepen the mutually beneficial energy trade relationship between Canada and the U.S. that a project like Keystone XL would be economically attractive for investors."
Kenney said he has been speaking to members of congress and says they understand that it is a national security imperative to get Keystone XL built.
“I believe that we could be partners potentially with the U.S. government in de-risking the project much in the same way the federal government did with the Trans Mountain expansion,” said Kenney.
BORDER CROSSINGS
Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University, says the challenge with the Keystone XL pipeline is that it cuts into another country and through several states, as opposed to the Trans Mountain which is entirely on Canadian soil.
Williams says there have already been a series of delays south of the border with the Keystone project ranging from court challenges to state governors resisting it.
Mount Royal University political science professor Lori Williams
“To try to get a new pipeline in that environment is a very big risk and to assume that if we do things on our side of the border then there would have to be a quid pro quo simply hasn’t worked in the past,” she said.
“I think there are a lot of Albertans right now who are wondering do we want to send another multi-million dollar investment into something that gets shut down south of the border.”
Both the Alberta government and TC Energy have filed multi-billion dollar lawsuits against the U.S. government for canceling the project, which was supposed to ship oil from Hardisty, Alberta to U.S. refineries.
A TC Energy representative said in a statement, “The Keystone XL pipeline project was terminated in June 2021 and will not proceed," adding that “the existing system continues to be utilized and has delivered over 3.3 billion barrels of crude oil to market since 2010.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.