WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30, 2017 /CNW/ – Canada and the United States share a unique relationship, a mutually beneficial partnership forged by shared geography, common interests and two of the most integrated economies in the world. Millions of good, middle-class jobs — on both sides of the border — depend upon the free flow of goods and services between our two countries.
Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Jim Carr, took that message to Washington, D.C. this week as part of his first official visit with the new U.S. administration. The trip included Minister Carr’s first face-to-face meeting with Rick Perry, the new U.S. Secretary of Energy.
Minister Carr and Secretary Perry agreed on the importance of advancing a North American energy strategy and to build on the important work done to date. The meeting also touched on the Keystone XL decision and the jobs it will create on both sides of the border, a recent example of the benefits to both nations of integrated energy systems. There was also agreement to align priorities on cybersecurity and infrastructure security.
Minister Carr also met with Scott Pruitt, the new Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska); Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota); chief executives of the National Association of Homebuilders and the American Petroleum Institute; and the presidents of the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations and the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
While in Washington, Minister Carr delivered a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, where he expanded upon the significance of the Canada–U.S. relationship. He stressed that, with the third-largest crude oil reserves in the world, Canada is a secure and reliable source of energy for the U.S., providing 43 percent of all the crude it imports. Canada and the U.S. also share a prosperous trade relationship when it comes to electricity, mining and forest products.
Minister Carr added that energy integration benefits both Canada and the U.S. by increasing our energy security, lowering energy and capital costs, and enhancing reliability of supply. It also creates good, middle-class jobs at the thousands of American companies that supply Canada’s energy industry.