Kenney urges Trudeau to act on Keystone XL, says Biden’s plan to scrap project would set dangerous precedent

A portion of the pipeline that crosses the border from southern Alberta into the U.S. was built last year. Kenney said a decision by a president to scrap something that already exists would be precedent-setting and could have implications for other cross-border pipeline projects such as Line 5 in Michigan and Line 3 in Minnesota – both of which are facing legal challenges.

“If the project is effectively killed by a presidential veto of this nature, a retroactive veto, we believe that under the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement and other international instruments that there would be a solid legal basis to at least seek damages,” Kenney said.

Kenney said the Alberta government has already retained legal counsel both in Canada and the United States to give advice on the province’s potential legal standing to seek compensation if the pipeline expansion project is cancelled.

Alberta has a $1.5 billion equity investment in the pipeline and has also made a $6 billion loan guarantee that takes effect in 2021. Kenney said the province could be on the hook for about $1 billion if the project were to end right now.

In November, Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told the CBC protecting Keystone XL and other energy exports to the U.S. is a top priority for the federal government.

With files from the Canadian Press

More to come