Harper says pipeline benefits Canada

QUEBEC — The Keystone XL pipeline would create jobs in Canada and the United States and ensure North American energy security, Stephen Harper said Friday after U.S. President Barack Obama suggested the long-lasting job effects would be minimal.

“In terms of the Keystone pipeline, the perspective of this government is very clear. It is very well known by everyone in Washington,” the prime minister said in response to a reporter’s question about Obama’s remarks.

“Our No. 1 priority in Canada is the creation of jobs, and clearly this is a project that will create jobs on both sides of the border. It is, in our judgment, an important project not just for our economy and job creation but for the long-term energy security of North America.”

Harper didn’t elaborate on how many jobs would result but has said previously that construction of the controversial 1,800-kilometre pipeline would create about 40,000 jobs.

The U.S. State Department draft environmental analysis agrees, but estimates only about 35 permanent and temporary jobs would remain once the pipeline is fully operational.

Obama told the New York Times in a recent interview that Keystone XL would create “maybe 2,000 jobs during the construction of the pipeline,” and added with a chuckle it would sustain “somewhere between 50 and 100 jobs in an economy of 150 million working people.”

If approved, the $7-billion pipeline would carry millions of barrels a week of Alberta oilsands bitumen as well as crude extracted from North Dakota’s Bakken shale to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.

Harper said it is important for Canadians to benefit from the country’s energy products and that projects such as TransCanada Corp.’s Energy East venture are good in principle.

The Energy East pipeline would deliver up to 1.1 million barrels per day from western Canada to refineries and export terminals in Quebec in late 2017 and New Brunswick one year later.

Harper insisted that any transportation projects in Canada will be subject to a rigorous independent analysis of environmental impact and safety issues.