Canadian officials pressure US on Keystone

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper sent three of his top cabinet ministers to the New York City this week to speak to the media and at an energy conference to push for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Finance Minister Joe Oliver, Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told Bloomberg News that they want to keep the issue of the pipeline in public’s attention.

{mosads}“This is a democracy, and I’m sure the government listens to the people,” Oliver said. “It’s not going to vanish as a business issue for those who are going to be directly impacted.”

The pipeline is planned to run from Alberta’s oil sands to refiners on the Gulf Coast, which would help Canada’s oil industry get its product to market.

But its approval has been the subject of years of delay in the United States, most recently when the State Department said it would wait for a court case on the pipeline’s route in Nebraska to be resolved before it considers granting a permit.

The Canadian officials accused the U.S. of deliberately delaying the process, Bloomberg said. It has strained relations between the countries and become a major issue of disagreement.

Oliver, Rickford and Baird also attended the Goldman Sachs North American Energy Summit in New York, attended by major corporate executives, along with Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Bloomberg said.