Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair has been accused by the Conservatives of undermining efforts to move ahead on the Keystone XL pipeline project following a meeting with a top U.S. Democrat.
The pipeline was a topic of discussion in Washington this week, during a private meeting attended by Mulcair, a delegation of NDP MPs and U.S. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi.
Remarking on her meeting with “Canadian legislators” on Thursday, Pelosi said Canadians reject the pipeline.
“The Canadians don’t want the pipeline in their own country, but they want their own oil to be reaching export markets,” Pelosi said.
Mulcair has denied Pelosi’s view of the discussion at the meeting, claiming she distorted their words.
NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar, who attended the meeting and said he took notes, backed up Mulcair. “We did not bring up the issue of Keystone, (Pelosi) brought it up,” Dewar told CTV News on Friday.
Mulcair does admit, however, to criticizing what he says is the Conservatives’ poor record on environmental protection.
For their part, the Conservatives say the NDP breached protocol, failing to keep domestic politics within Canada’s borders.
In a fundraising drive letter sent to donors, the Conservatives wrote that the NDP are “attacking Canadian jobs.”
The controversial project to extend a pipeline from Alberta to Texas has reached a critical stage as the Obama administration is expected to soon decide whether to approve the megaproject or not.
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Mulcair’s stance is working against Canada.
“It’s very unhelpful, particularly at this critical moment prior to the president’s decision,” Oliver said.
Critics say the TransCanada pipeline is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, but the governing Conservatives say it would create thousands of Canadian jobs and billions in revenue dollars.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators said Thursday they introduced a bill to approve the pipeline.
With a report from CTV’s Richard Madan and with files from The Canadian Press
