You can count the reasons some Canadians might now find themselves more heavily invested in this U.S. presidential election than they already were.
Say, about 1.5 billion more reasons.
That’s the number of dollars Alberta taxpayers are investing as an equity stake in the Keystone XL oil pipeline, whose fate might now hinge on the U.S. election.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden announced Monday he’d scrap the pipeline if elected, making the Alberta-to-Texas project a campaign issue.
“The province of Alberta is now an owner of this pipeline,” said Dennis McConaghy, former vice president of the company building Keystone XL, now known as TC Energy. He was referring to the Alberta government’s minority investment in the project, announced in March.
“So all Albertans have a real stake in this.”
He called Biden’s election a late-stage risk to the completion of the project; construction has just begun on an anticipated two- to three-year building phase, amid more than a decade of on-again-off-again legal and political battle.
McConaghy warned that there will be more lawsuits if Biden tries killing it, and he cautioned the pipeline fight could last well past the election.
Why that announcement
One possible reason for the announcement now: Biden is currently working to consolidate the support of skeptical progressives as he moves into the general election.
He’s set up task forces to build the party platform with supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders; the climate-change group, for instance, includes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the first-term lawmaker who’s boosted the so-called Green New Deal and blasted Keystone XL.
Biden has also promised to rejoin the Paris climate accord on his first day in office, and might now point to his anti-pipeline position in the context of that debate.
Take a look. There are Dems AND GOP taking oil ????. & they have all at 1 point compromised their positions: Keystone XL, change denying, etc. <a href=”https://t.co/ukAUJm3uWW”>https://t.co/ukAUJm3uWW</a>
“We are in the political season,” Bruce Heyman, Barack Obama’s ambassador to Canada, told CBC News, acknowledging that, in an election year, a candidate’s every gesture gets interpreted as campaign-related.
“But I think … he’s clarifying the positions he believes in.”
He said Biden is simply upholding the same conclusion Obama drew after a years-long, oft-delayed deliberation — that the project offers little benefit to the U.S., in terms of jobs and fuel prices, while undermining the transition to green energy.
Project proponents have contested those conclusions. Even Obama’s State Department at the time downplayed the climate impact, noting in environmental assessments that the proposed pipeline would likely not alter global greenhouse gas emissions.
Pipeline packs less political punch
This pipeline was, for a few years, the hottest Canada-U.S. political issue, and a high-profile irritant on both sides of the border.
That’s changed.
Joe Biden, left, was present when then-president Barack Obama, seen here in 2015, announced he would reject a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada. Biden now says he’d reject it again. The pipeline has the backing of President Donald Trump. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
In Washington, it’s become a lower-tier political topic, underscored Monday by the few U.S. news headlines and minimal reaction to Biden’s announcement.
The U.S. capital is now consumed by hyper-charged new debates about relations with China; the pandemic; and the future of global trade.
Canadian politicians are also less keen to elevate the issue these days.
Under Stephen Harper, Canada mounted a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to pressure the Obama administration — with subway posters, and broadcast and Internet spots, arguing the pipeline would create jobs, not carbon emissions.
Both the federal and provincial governments responded Monday with measured statements that avoided criticizing Biden.
Alberta Minister Sonya Savage said she wasn’t interested in speculating about potential U.S. election outcomes.
She said she would simply remind Americans of the project benefits: thousands of shovel-ready jobs at a time of mass unemployment, and a stable oil supply at a time of global instability.
Canadian politicians may also have domestic political incentives for avoiding a scrape with Biden now, in the midst of a hard-fought U.S. election.
Canadians’ view on U.S. election
Canadians are massively rooting for Biden against President Donald Trump, says one pollster. David Coletto at Abacus Data said he doesn’t see the pipeline being the issue that turns Canadian opinions on this election.
Coletto just completed an online survey of 1,727 Canadians, from May 14-17, which showed they favoured Biden by 56 percentage points against Trump (78 per cent to 22 per cent).
As for Keystone XL, his last poll on the topic was conducted three years ago and it showed qualified support for the pipeline: among 2,036 Canadians polled, 33 per cent approved of Keystone XL; 25 per cent opposed it, and 25 per cent said they could support it under the right conditions.
“While Biden’s position on Keystone XL may lose some fans, Trump’s negatives far outweigh Biden’s in most people’s minds,” Coletto said.
“Biden would have to do a lot more for Canadians to want Mr. Trump re-elected over him. … I don’t think this fundamentally changes anything [in Canadian opinion].”
Hillary Clinton and Obama opposed Keystone and most Canadians like them too, Coletto said.
Heyman said Canadians would also get along just fine with a President Biden.
“There’s nobody who’s going to be a better friend to Canada than Joe Biden,” Heyman said.
“And that will be a stark difference from what you’ve experienced over these last few years [under Trump]. …
“[He won’t be] threatening you with steel and aluminum tariffs. Threatening you with troops at your border. Threatening you with holding critical supplies during a pandemic.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
