Keystone XL: Harper meets with pipeline builder ahead of Obama
by The Canadian Press
Stephen Harper signalling he will once again push U.S. President Barack Obama for speedy approval
MEXICO CITY—Prime Minister Stephen Harper is meeting leaders from the company that wants to build the Keystone XL pipeline just hours before he pushes United States President Barack Obama one more time to approve it.
Harper’s tete-a-tete with TransCanada Corp. officials comes in Mexico City before he travels to the neighbouring city of Toluca for the so-called Three Amigos summit with Obama and Mexico’s Enrique Pena Nieto.
No progress is likely on TransCanada’s long-stalled plan to link Alberta’s oilsands with the southern U.S. because neither leader is expected to deviate from their stated positions on Keystone.
Harper is signalling he will once again push Obama for speedy approval, while the White House maintains the president will reiterate the approval process is still ongoing for several more months.
Harper will press Obama on the sidelines of a relatively short but packed meeting of the three North American leaders that will focus on deepening economic integration, energy, labour mobility and security.
They will be marking the 20th anniversary of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a deal Harper has lauded despite the fact it has left Canada in a trade deficit with Mexico.
