A former Alberta premier says he’s encouraged by renewed discussions about the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Jason Kenney told CTV News Wednesday it’s time to “just get ‘er done” and expand the project.
His comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump posted a photo generated by artificial intelligence to Truth Social Tuesday, saying Keystone XL “may be awoken from the grave.”
The post was in relation to trade talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Neither leader spoke directly about the line Wednesday, only saying their talks were productive.
But Kenney said he’s ready for the conversation to rejoin public consciousness.
“The U.S. does need a reliable secure source of energy, and (this) could be that,” he said. “With this project, we would be.”
The long-abandoned pipeline project starts in Hardisty, Alta., a town northeast of Red Deer.
It would carry Canadian crude to the Gulf Coast.
The expansion was originally proposed in 2008 but was shot down twice by Democrat administrations.
Experts estimate the expansion could increase Canadian crude exports to the U.S. by more than 12 per cent.
“One of the best ways to deal with Trump’s aggression against the Canadian economy is to give him a win, which is also a win for Canada,” Kenney said.
“That would be a big pipeline going south.”
When he was premier, Kenney gave a loan guarantee and committed taxpayer equity to jumpstart the pipeline’s construction.
After the permit was revoked by then-president Joe Biden, it left Alberta taxpayers holding a $1.3 billion bag.
“Ideally I would’ve liked to see this done while I was premier, but we got a lot of it built,” he told CTV News. “We paved the way. So let’s build on it. Let’s not just leave that pipe stuck in the ground, it’s there.”
“Let’s finish the damn project.”
Experts believe that’s doable.
In fact, one expert at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute says the partially-built line should be relatively easy to bring online and fill.
“South Bow, which is the company that owns it now, has already entered into an agreement with American company, Bridger, to revive it,” said senior fellow and Director of Natural Resources, Energy and Environment Heather Exner-Pirot said.
“They’ve already had what we call an open season, when producers contract out a portion of the pipeline. That was very successful: up to 550,000 barrels. And they plan a final investment decision next year.”
Current premier Danielle Smith turned down an interview request Wednesday, but sent a statement saying she is always in discussions with industry to support pipeline expansion and construction opportunities.
South Bow did not respond to a CTV News inquiry.
