Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs Responds to Latest Keystone XL Setback

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TWO HILLS, ALBERTA– Shannon Stubbs, Conservative Shadow Minister for Natural Resources, today released the following statement regarding the Keystone XL pipeline’s latest setback:

“Today’s ruling demonstrates yet again why Canada must build new pipelines to export environmentally responsible Canadian oil and gas to new markets. If the Liberals hadn’t vetoed Northern Gateway and killed Energy East with last minute regulatory changes, Canada would have two new export pipelines. Instead the Liberals killed both.  

“The reality is Justin Trudeau has never championed Keystone XL. His weak response to the US veto of Keystone XL in 2015 was to simply say he was ‘disappointed.’ He failed to correct the repeated American myth that Canadian oil is ‘dirty’ – at a time when the United States imported record levels of Canadian oil. He failed to correct the record on Canada’s stronger environmental standards for oil and gas. He failed to make the case to American decision makers and failed to support TransCanada in the courts or through the NAFTA dispute resolution mechanism.

Unbelievably, all Minister Sohi has to say today is that he is “disappointed.” He failed to propose any action.

“Prime Minster Justin Trudeau and Minister Sohi must be more than “disappointed,” they must act to help Keystone XL overcome this latest hurdle. The Liberals must use every tool in the toolbox to get this pipeline built.

“There are a range of options the Liberals could pursue, including providing logistical and legal support to the appeal, and lobbying key decision makers in the United States to ensure every option to get Keystone XL is built. If the Liberals don’t do these things, it’s up to them to tell Canadians what they are going to do, beyond expressing ‘disappointment’ from the sidelines. 

“Conservatives have backed Keystone XL every step of the way. Conservatives approved the pipeline in 2010. In 2012 the Conservative Government launched a major multiyear lobbying effort which successfully secured the support of the majority of US lawmakers.  In 2016 Conservatives called for the Liberals to support TransCanada’s NAFTA appeal of the Keystone XL veto.

“The lack of pipeline capacity to bring Canadian oil and gas to international markets is a national economic crisis. The discount on Canadian oil is costing Canada hundreds of thousands of jobs in the energy and manufacturing sectors, decreasing the value of Canada’s financial markets, and depriving Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments of billions of dollars in lost taxes.

“The consequence of the Liberals’ decision to kill new pipelines to export markets while the United States ramped up production and removed their ban on exporting American oil in 2015 has resulted in the United States becoming Canada’s biggest competitor and customer for oil and gas, while Canada’s energy remains landlocked and captive to US purchasers.

“The Prime Minister’s failures have stalled the Trans Mountain Expansion, even after they spent $4.5 billion Canadian tax dollars, and the Liberals’ ‘no more pipelines’ Bill C-69, will guarantee no new pipelines get proposed or approved in Canada in the future.

The crisis for Canada’s energy sector is a crisis for the whole Canadian economy. The Liberals’ failures and damaging policies continue to sabotage the Canadian oil and gas sector -and Canadians are the ones who are paying the price.”