He did it again. Barack Obama did it again, going out of his way to downplay the jobs benefits of the Keystone XL pipeline in a speech in which he said the project is 鈥渘ot a jobs plan鈥� and would create only 50 permanent jobs.
鈥淭hey keep talking about this 鈥� an oil pipeline coming down from Canada that鈥檚 estimated to create about 50 permanent jobs 鈥� that鈥檚 not a jobs plan,鈥� the U.S. president said in a speech in Tennessee.
This followed Obama鈥檚 interview with the New York Times in which he said the $7.6-billion project would create 鈥渕aybe 2,000 jobs鈥� during the construction period and another 鈥�50 to 100 jobs鈥� in maintenance.
This isn鈥檛 rhetoric, it鈥檚 ridicule.
Never mind that the U.S. State Department in its environmental assessment just in April predicted that Keystone would create 42,100 direct and indirect jobs over a two-year period, including 3,900 in construction, twice as many as Obama talked about in the Times interview. TransCanada鈥檚 number is 9,000 construction jobs and 7,000 in manufacturing 鈥� they have to get the pipe from somewhere. And once it gets to tidewater on the Gulf Coast of Texas, there will be permanent jobs in refineries. In construction, manufacturing, refining and shipping to foreign customers, these are all high-paying jobs, many of them union jobs, a bedrock Democratic constituency Obama doesn鈥檛 seem to value as much as the eco-base he is courting by trashtalking Keystone.
A spokeswoman for the State Department told reporters: 鈥淚鈥檓 not aware of any change to the numbers.鈥� Their numbers, not Obama鈥檚. But here鈥檚 the problem: While Obama couldn鈥檛 be more wrong, he鈥檚 the guy calling the shots on whether Keystone will go ahead.
This puts the 91原创s in an invidious position. In Washington last week, 91原创 ambassador Gary Doer politely reiterated that Canada was working from the State Department job numbers.
In Quebec City for an announcement last Friday, Stephen Harper wouldn鈥檛 be drawn into a numbers game, but there鈥檚 no doubt where he comes out on it.
鈥淥ur No. 1 priority in Canada is the creation of jobs and clearly this is a project that will create jobs on both sides of the border,鈥� he said.
Leaving aside the economic benefits of Keystone, this file raises serious questions about the state of Canada-U.S. relations, and the relationship between the prime minister and the president. In the State Department and the National Security Council at the White House, they can鈥檛 be unaware of the importance of Keystone to Canada and to Harper himself. The Americans must also know that it makes the 91原创s crazy every time Obama refers to the oilsands as the 鈥渢arsands.鈥� At this point the U.S. doesn鈥檛 even have an ambassador in Ottawa, nor does Obama appear pressed to name a successor to David Jacobson, who was on excellent terms with Harper and his cabinet.
The tone in Canada-U.S. relations starts at the top.
On Keystone, perhaps it鈥檚 time Harper picked up the phone himself, and told Obama how important this is for Canada, as well as noting environmental improvements made by the oil industry and the Alberta government, such as a $15-per-tonne price on carbon.
As for TransCanada, it has announced another option, its Energy East project that would cost $12 billion and deliver 1.1 million barrels a day of western crude to refineries and ports in Montreal, Quebec and Saint John, N.B. This isn鈥檛 a done deal, either.
But 70 per cent of the line is already built as a gas pipeline, and the remainder would be built through Quebec to the Maritimes. Transporting oil is an environmentally sensitive issue in Quebec.
What鈥檚 in it for Quebec? Jobs in the construction phase. Jobs at Quebec refineries, jobs in Quebec鈥檚 two largest ports.
What鈥檚 in it for Canada? Diversifying our energy trade beyond the U.S., which now receives more than 99 per cent of our oil and gas exports. Canada would also be getting the world price, rather than selling to the U.S. at a discount of as much as $35 to $40 per barrel. This is certainly one way of getting the Americans鈥� attention.
听
L. Ian MacDonald is editor of Policy magazine.
