WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will continue to fight to convince president-elect Joe Biden’s administration of the merits of the Keystone XL pipeline expansion.
Trudeau says Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s envoy to the U.S., is pressing Ottawa’s case with what he calls the “highest levels” of the Biden team.
Biden promised during last year’s election campaign that he would rescind President Donald Trump’s approvals for the US$8-billion cross-border expansion.
Transition documents reviewed by The Canadian Press suggest an executive order on that score could come as early as Wednesday, Biden’s first day in the White House.
Environmental groups briefed on the incoming administration’s plan say they have been told it would come on Day 1.
Advocates for the project, however, are clinging to hope that the ensuing outcry will prompt the Biden team to give them a chance to change the president-elect’s mind.
Trudeau says he has been an advocate for the Keystone XL expansion since before he even became prime minister.
He says the project, which aims to send an added 800,000 barrels a day of Alberta oilsands bitumen to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, has evolved since then.
So too has Canada’s approach to climate change more broadly, he added.
“Canada has, in the intervening few years, become a global leader in the fight against climate change and moving forward in transforming our economy in important ways towards reducing emissions,” Trudeau said.
“I trust that we will be heard, that our arguments will be considered.”29dk2902l