“Make no mistake the energy industry is the lifeblood of our provincial and our national economies.”

“Make no mistake the energy industry is the lifeblood of our provincial and our national economies.” Premier Jason Kenney said in Oyen, the starting point for the Alberta section of the Keystone XL pipeline. 

“Energy is Canada's single largest export sector- the single largest sector of the Canadian economy- accounting for almost 1/4 of Canada's exports and about 100 billion dollars the value that we export out of Alberta through our energy alone. Pipelines are absolutely critical to that and since 2005 Oil and Natural gas have contributed nearly a trillion dollars to Canada's economy. Let me repeat that in the last 15 years oil and gas has contributed nearly a trillion dollars to Canada's GDP with 97% of that energy transported to safe and reliable pipelines.”

Kenney emphasized the importance of his ongoing representation of the KXL project in the U.S., informing our American friends, general public opinion leaders and political decision makers about how US jobs and the economy and national security will all benefit from the completion of the Keystone XL project. TC energy expects the project will support 17,000 Canadian jobs and 10s of thousands of jobs as well south of the border by the time it's completed in 2023.

 “It's not just about North American energy independence but also about American National security. Our American friends have spent trillions of dollars in the past several decades defending security in the Persian Gulf region to have access to OPEC oil to fuel their economy. In recent years we achieved the dream of North American energy independence with North America becoming a net exporter of oil. That was jeopardized this spring with the Saudi surge of supply along with the Russians. So, Keystone XL getting over 800,000 barrels a day of democratic, Canadian, reliable energy to the US refineries says that they will never again have to rely on OPEC. So, this is not just an economic question, not just a jobs issue, it is a National Security issue, which is why we are pleased to have support from leaders on both sides of the partisan aisle in the United States.”

Around 2,000 construction workers are already on-site for the start of construction on KXL. A reason to celebrate.