Steele: Keystone XL is worth fighting for

Editor:

On March 4, 2019 — an election year — Prime Minister Trudeau stood and emphatically stated “I will always fight for Canadian jobs.”

Recently, the Canadian government was formally notified that President Biden would cancel the Keystone XL expansion project. The government has since communicated they will accept the President’s decision and will not fight to change his mind on a key campaign promise.

Ask yourself: does the action match the rhetoric? And would the Prime Minister take a different approach if this project were in Ontario or Quebec?

Meanwhile the NDP outright celebrated the end of the project.

Construction of the Keystone XL expansion should be a top priority for Canadian-U.S. economic relations. It is critical to North American energy security, will have a tremendous employment impact north and south of the border and has garnered significant indigenous support. Environmentally, Keystone will reach net-zero emissions when it first turns on and will be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2030.

Now is the time for our nations to strengthen our trading relationship, not erect further barriers to collaborative and sustainable development.

Saskatchewan’s priority is to continue advocating for our interests with the new administration, including protecting the important trade and export supply chain between our nations and strengthening North America’s energy security.

The Nekaneet First Nation in Southwest Saskatchewan showed its belief in the project by purchasing an ownership stake in the pipeline that would cross through reserve and non-reserve lands. This project would secure future financial stability and growth opportunities for the people of Nekaneet, and our government will continue to support investments like this for the Nekaneet First Nation, and for all the people of our province.

We will continue exercising our contacts in Washington D.C. to advocate for the continuation of this project that clearly benefits both of our nations. It is unfortunate that our Prime Minister, the one who will “always fight for Canadian jobs”, is hesitant to do so if those jobs are in Western Canada.

Doug Steele

Cypress Hills MLA