Harper and Obama need to have a talk
He did it again. Barack Obama did it again, going out of his way to downplay the jobs benefits of the Keystone XL pipeline in a speech in which he said the project is “not a jobs plan” and would create only 50 permanent jobs.
“They keep talking about this — an oil pipeline coming down from Canada that’s estimated to create about 50 permanent jobs — that’s not a jobs plan,” the U.S. president said in a speech in Tennessee.
This followed Obama’s interview with the New York Times in which he said the $7.6-billion project would create “maybe 2,000 jobs” during the construction period and another “50 to 100 jobs” in maintenance. This isn’t rhetoric, it’s ridicule. Never mind that the U.S. State Department in its environmental assessment just in April predicted that Keystone would create 42,100 direct and indirect jobs over a twoyear period, including 3,900 in construction, twice as many as Obama talked about in the Times interview. TransCanada’s number is 9,000 construction jobs and 7,000 in manufacturing — they have to get the pipe from somewhere. And once it gets to tidewater on the Gulf Coast of Texas, there will be permanent jobs in refineries. In construction, manufacturing, refining and shipping to foreign customers, these are all high-paying jobs, many of them union jobs, a bedrock Democratic constituency Obama doesn’t seem to value as much as the eco-base he is courting by trashtalking Keystone.
A spokeswoman for the State Department told reporters: “I’m not aware of any change to the numbers.” Their numbers, not Obama’s. But here’s the problem: While Obama couldn’t be more wrong, he’s the guy calling the shots on whether Keystone will go ahead.
This puts the Canadians in an invidious position. In Washington last week, Canadian ambassador Gary Doer politely reiterated that Canada was working from the State Department job numbers.
In Quebec City for an announcement last Friday, Stephen Harper wouldn’t be drawn into a numbers game, but there’s no doubt where he comes out on it.
“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,” he said.
Leaving aside the economic benefits of Keystone, this file raises serious questions about the state of Canada-U.S. relations, and the relationship between the prime minister and the president. In the State Department and the National Security Council at the White House, they can’t be unaware of the importance of Keystone to Canada and to Harper himself. The Americans must also know that it makes the Canadians crazy every time Obama refers to the oilsands as the “tarsands.” At this point the U.S. doesn’t even have an ambassador in Ottawa, nor does Obama appear pressed to name a successor to David Jacobson, who was on excellent terms with Harper and his cabinet.
The tone in Canada-U.S. relations starts at the top.
On Keystone, perhaps it’s time Harper picked up the phone himself, and told Obama how important this is for Canada, as well as noting environmental improvements made by the oil industry and the Alberta government, such as a $15-per-tonne price on carbon.
As for TransCanada, it has announced another option, its Energy East project that would cost $12 billion and deliver 1.1 million barrels a day of western crude to refineries and ports in Montreal, Quebec and Saint John, N.B. This isn’t a done deal, either.
But 70 per cent of the line is already built as a gas pipeline, and the remainder would be built through Quebec to the Maritimes. Transporting oil is an environmentally sensitive issue in Quebec.
What’s in it for Quebec? Jobs in the construction phase. Jobs at Quebec refineries, jobs in Quebec’s two largest ports.
What’s in it for Canada? Diversifying our energy trade beyond the U.S., which now receives more than 99 per cent of our oil and gas exports. Canada would also be getting the world price, rather than selling to the U.S. at a discount of as much as $35 to $40 per barrel. This is certainly one way of getting the Americans’ attention.