During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is moving past the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline and moving forward with “clean energy” projects with the US.
“I think it’s fairly clear that the US administration has made its decision on that, and we’re much more interested in ensuring that we’re moving forward in ways that are good for both of our countries,” Trudeau said.
“But when you talk about clean energy and hydro-electricity from Canada, when we talk about what we can do around smarter grids, what we can do around electric vehicles and transportation. There is so much we spoke about earlier this week and so much we’re going to continue to do together.”
President Joe Biden struck down Keystone XL during his first day in office as a symbol to his commitment to shifting towards renewable energy. The permit was given to TC Energy by former President Donald Trump in 2019.
“One of the things that Americans perhaps haven’t noticed, is that over the last five years Canada has taken huge strides on fighting climate change. Whether it is moving forward with a carbon tax, that’s on its way up to $170 per ton, we have some of the strongest measures around,” said Trudeau.
Alberta invested $1 billion in the energy project and construction had already begun on Keystone XL when the executive order from President Biden stopped the project.
“That would be, in our view, a serious economic and strategic error that would set back Canada-US relations with the United States’ most important trading partner and strategic ally,” said Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in January.
Kenney also called for economic retaliation and accused Trudeau of failing to advocate for the project.
During the interview with the Meet the Press, Trudeau was also pressed about a new report by the U.S. intelligence committee that concluded the Saudi Crown Prince approved the killing of journalist Jemal Khashoggi.
Trudeau was asked if Canada considers Saudi Arabia an ally.
“No, I wouldn’t say. They are a country we do business with. They are a country we continually advocate for greater transparency, greater human rights, and the protection of women and activists,” said Trudeau.
