Canadian Government to Keep Up Pressue for Keystone XL

United States/Canada - Canada's finance minister announced his feeling that the Keystone XL pipeline project will be revived after the United States' presidential elections.

Finance minister Ron Liepert said the United States' government's stance on the pipeline is likely to shift toward its approval.  Given that one of the Republican Party's candidates - almost all of whom have expressed their support for it - or Obama - who won't have to face any threat the environmental side of his base presents to him - his assertion may be spot-on.

Although President Obama delayed the project, Canada's government is continuing to look for more options such as shipping their tar sands oil through the West Coast to Asia or using the Eastern Seaboard using one of the country's pipelines. Earlier this month Stephen Harper, Canada's Prime Minister, visited China to talk to the country's government about shipping their oil to the country.


"We believe Keystone will be revived and approved after the presidential election, but it's not a sure thing," said Liepert.

Fears of how the proposed pipeline would affect the Midwest's water supply, where America gets a vast amount of its food resources, have prompted environmentalist groups to oppose its construction. One of the main fears is that a pipeline rupture would devastate the aquifer, while another is the gas output would forever destroy the climate due to the massive CO2 emissions.

Thinking Obama's delay was caused at least in part to the environmentalist side of the left, a majority of Republicans have been trying to introduce a legislative bill which would require Obama to make his decision before the presidential election while promoting the idea that Keystone XL's passage would "create more jobs", a claim which has been proven wrong numerous times.

Canadian Prime Minister Insists on Building Pipeline

Canada – Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues to pursue a way to ensure the transport of Canada's tar sands oil to China, saying it is “increasingly clear that it is in Canada's national interest to diversify our energy markets.”

Harper's goal goes against the wishes of environmental and aboriginal groups throughout the country, which see it as bad for the environment and native cultures. If the pipeline was to bust, the damage would be catastrophic. Harper however unjustly called the groups “foreign-funded radicals.”

“We have abundant supplies of virtually every form of energy. And you know, we want to sell our energy to people who want to buy our energy -- it's that simple,” he said.

His rhetoric increased after President Obama vetoed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which goes through the middle of the United States, at least until after the presidential elections.

Despite the unlikelihood of any of the oil from the tar sands arriving within the next decade, China's expressed its strong interest in buying the oil from Canada.

Harper praised the country's business model which made it become an economic powerhouse in the span of a few decades, saying it “shown the world how to make a poor people rich” despite the human costsit has on its citizens. He also predicted China would soon become the world's largest economy.

Canada Not Pleased With Pipeline Delay

Canada – Despite President Barack Obama's delay on the Keystone XL pipeline until the end of the Presidential election, Canada has announced it's going to continue to promote the use of its tar sands as a source of energy.

Canada's government is currently under its Conservative majority, which is supported by Western Canda and funded by the gas and oil industry. This limits the country's options, as does another proposal that sends tar sands oil to Asia's markets. President Obama's decision to put off his approval for the pipeline is likely to kill the project altogether. Initially set to make a decision before the end of the year, President Obama faced a huge amount of protesters both in front of the White House and during his campaign tour that claimed tar sands oil is extremely hard to extract. Jim Hansen of NASA, and one of the world's top climate scientist said if the pipeline was to go through, it would "essentially be game over for the climate."

Prime Minister of Canda Stephen Harper said the United States approving the pipeline is a “no-brainer”.