PM expresses `disappointment' over KXL in first call with Biden
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voiced Canada's “disappointment” with President Joe Biden's decision to kibosh the Keystone XL project on his first day in office during a half-hour phone call between the two leaders late Friday.
For his part, Biden acknowledged the difficulties his decision has caused, said a federal official familiar with what was discussed.
But the tone of the call, which marked Biden's first conversation with a foreign leader since taking office this week, was “overwhelmingly positive,” a source told The Canadian Press on the condition of anonymity. “The Prime Minister underscored the important economic and energy-security benefits of our bilateral energy relationship as well as his support for energy workers,” says the readout of their conversation released by the Office of the Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister and President reiterated the urgent need for ambitious action on climate change, reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement, and agreed to work together on net-zero emissions, zero-emissions vehicles, cross-border clean electricity transmission, and the Arctic.” Trudeau also expressed concern about Biden's Buy American plan to ensure U.S. workers and manufacturers are the primary beneficiaries of his economic recovery strategy.
The leaders agreed to continue to discuss Canada's concerns about an issue that the two sides have been discussing for months, and will continue to talk about as the administration finds its feet, the source suggested.
“It's not always going to be perfect alignment with the United States; that's the case with any given president,” Trudeau told a news conference earlier in the day.
“In a situation where we are much more aligned — on values, on focus, on the work that needs to be done to give opportunities for everyone while we build a better future — I'm very much looking forward to working with President Biden.”
The conversation between the two leaders comes as Alberta's NDP Opposition is urging “diplomacy” in contrast to the tone Premier Jason Kenney has struck in the wake of Biden's decision.
The NDP called on the UCP government to publicly disclose details of its Keystone XL deal with TC Energy, signed before Biden's decision to revoke the permit needed to build the pipeline. Speaking in Calgary on Friday, NDP energy critic Kathleen Ganley said Kenney
owes Albertans a transparent breakdown of the agreement, a full risk analysis, and disclosure of all financial documents related to the agreement.
The NDP plans to make a formal request at next Tuesday 's meeting of the legislature's standing committee on public accounts to waive cabinet privilege and release details of the deal.
Ganley said those documents are in the public interest.
“Albertans still don't know exactly how much we're on the hook for,” she said.
The Us$14.4-billion cross-border oil pipeline had been under construction since last year until Calgary-based TC Energy announced Wednesday it was suspending development, as Biden followed through on his campaign promise to block the project due to climate change considerations.
Alberta has a $1.5-billion equity investment in the pipeline and has also made a $6-billion loan guarantee that takes effect in 2021.
“While the news was disappointing, it didn't come as a surprise. The only person who seems to have been surprised is the premier,” Ganley said. “And now he's trying to blame everyone but himself for losing billions of Albertans' money. The responsibility rests squarely on his shoulders.”
Kenney released a public letter to Trudeau earlier in the day proposing “that we approach Washington together to begin a conversation about North American energy and climate policy.”
“We must find a path to a reconsideration of Keystone XL within the context of a broader North American energy and climate agreement,” Kenney wrote, adding Ottawa “must do more than express disappointment with this decision.
“Just as your government stood up for aluminum and steel workers when faced with an unfair U.S. tariff in 2018, it is imperative that you take action for the thousands more workers in the energy sector and their vast contributions to the Canadian economy.”
Kenney also requested Trudeau press Biden to compensate the Alberta government and TC Energy “for billions of dollars of costs incurred in the construction of Keystone XL to date.”
TC Energy has said it would eliminate more than 1,000 construction jobs in the coming weeks in the wake of Biden's Keystone XL decision.
Earlier in the week, Kenney called on the federal government to impose trade sanctions if Biden doesn't review his decision. He cited a column by University of Calgary economist Jack Mintz, which suggested imposing tariffs “on selected U.S. oil-based products” as a possible response.
U of C economist Trevor Tombe said it's not fair to compare the current situation to the 2018 tariff dispute during former U.S. president Donald Trump's administration.
“This is not a trade dispute. This is not like steel and aluminum where we are responding to illegal trade actions by the United States,” Tombe said.
“Our retaliation to steel and aluminum was legal and allowable under (World Trade Organization) rules. Us enacting tariffs because we don't like a decision around energy infrastructure construction permits in the United States, that would be us starting a trade war which would not be allowable under WTO rules.”
Ganley said the potential repercussions of a trade war “would be entirely unpredictable for Canadian jobs, Canadian industries, Canadian workers and Canadian families.”
She urged Kenney to stop “yelling and screaming.”
“Diplomacy must be the first course of action,” she said. “Being reckless and issuing threats is not the way forward.”
Ganley said she hoped Trudeau would advocate strongly for the project during his conversation with Biden.
“Before we sort of move to a trade war situation as the premier is suggesting, I think we need to consider what the impact of that will be on Alberta jobs because, at the end of the day, we're in this mess because the premier wasn't strategic, he wasn't diplomatic, he didn't establish relations with this new administration and Albertans are suffering as a result of that,” she said.
“What we don't want is to find ourselves in a trade war that hurts Alberta more than it hurts anyone else.”