American president Joe Biden’s decision Jan. 20 to withdraw the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline project is a heavy blow to the struggling oil and gas industry, a hit to Premier Jason Kenney and his UCP government, and more bad news for Alberta’s rural communities.
Whether court challenges trumpeted by Kenney will lead to a reversal of Biden’s Keystone decision remains uncertain at the very least.
However, what the cancellation does highlight is the extreme vulnerability of Alberta in the face of international opposition and the province’s desperate need for support from outside its borders.
Yet with many UCP members, including at least one government MLA, having come out in support of past president Donald Trump over the last four years, is it any surprise that the new U.S. administration is already treating Alberta’s government like an opponent and not a partner?
One stakeholder that Alberta could really use in support of its efforts to get the province’s oil and gas to the key U.S. market is the Canadian federal government.
Yet with Premier Kenney having campaigned long and hard for the Conservative Party of Canada and strenuously against the Justin Trudeau Liberals in the last federal election, can anyone realistically expect the federal government to come to Alberta’s rescue with concrete action against the U.S.? Why would the Liberals fight for Kenney's UCP Alberta?
Jason Kenney committed more than $1 billion in Alberta taxpayers’ money to the Keystone project when there was no guarantee that the project would go forward.
Had it been completed, the Keystone project could have allowed Alberta to get more of its oil resources to market, bringing in much-needed revenue to counter the many, many financial challenges facing communities right here in rural Alberta and elsewhere in the province.
Now that President Biden has handed the Keystone project what is probably its death blow, Alberta’s need for support has never been greater. Too bad that help is nowhere to be found.
Dan Singleton is an editor with The Albertan.
