(The Canadian Press)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Restrained Reaction

Local reaction to White House changes mixed

Jan 21, 2021 | 3:00 PM

While many people in North America celebrated the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday, the reaction from political and business figures in Saskatchewan was quite restrained.

This stems from the executive order given by Biden on Day one to revoke the license for the Keystone XL Pipeline. The extension, originally proposed in 2008, would dramatically increase capacity to transport crude oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the U.S. and was estimated to generate both thousands of jobs and millions of dollars for the prairies.

The nixing of the pipeline cannot be ignored as a big opening challenge on Day one of the new presidency according to Steve McLellan, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. But he added this is not a message that the very strong Canadian-U.S. trade relationship is over.

“We trade so much every single day and that will continue. With a much more reasonable person in the White House we think there’s opportunity ahead,” McLellan said.

And he added the massive stimulus package the Biden administration is lining up to help the U.S. through the crippling effects of the COVID pandemic will have a positive effect in this country.

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“The more people working, the more food they buy; the more food they buy the more we can sell them [including] potash. Anything that’s good for the U.S economy is just about as good at some point for the supply chain in Canada.”

Several politicians in the province expressed concern over the impact.

In a statement provided to battlefordsNOW, Battlefords MP Rosemarie Falk said conservatives are ready to work together with the United States towards mutual growth for both countries. However, she raised concern regarding Biden’s expected policy decisions regarding the oil sector.

“Indications that one of President Joe Biden’s top priorities in office is to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline extension is devastating,” she said. “It jeopardizes the economic future for thousands of Canadian families who have already been badly hurt by the economic crisis.”

Falk added that there’s little confidence in the Prime Minister changing the course of this decision.

“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau owes it to [Canadians] to do more than pay lip service to the pipeline project,” she said. “Unfortunately his record of intently devastating the energy sector doesn’t leave us here in Saskatchewan and Western Canada with much hope.”

Prince Albert MP, Conservative Randy Hoback, said the change of presidency also puts the onus on Justin Trudeau to show improved relations with the U.S., noting the prime minister no longer has an excuse not to be able to engage with Washington on what matters to Canada.

“He [now] has a friend in the White House… so when we see things like Keystone pipeline being cancelled this prime minister should be able to step up and use that friendship… to get good results for Canada and the whole of North America,” Hoback said.

When asked by paNOW on what he thought the new administration meant for Canada and Saskatchewan, Hoback said time will tell.

“If [Biden] can be reasoned with to look at the big picture and see positive trade relations that benefit our whole continent, then we can move forward,” he said. “But when you see the first thing he’s doing is shutting down pipelines, then that’s problematic.”

However, Hoback thinks the huge $1.9 trillion stimulus package being proposed by Biden can only help on this side of the border.

“Indirectly or directly, there definitely will be a spin-off… whether they’re buying more lumber or more raw resources, we’re such big trading partners,” he said.

He noted the re-engagement of the U.S. on the world stage will bolster entities like NATO, NORAD, and the World Trade Organization to help what he called the need to ensure China is following fair trade rules. But one thing Hoback said he was looking forward and expecting now there’s a new person in the White House is not worrying about what sort of illogical tweet or decision comes from the former president that did not focus trade decisions based on what’s best for the North American continent as a whole.

“When we look at things from a ‘best benefits for all practice’ rather than just ‘me, me, me’ …that I think will be the biggest change of Biden over Trump.”

meadowlakeNOW reached out to Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River MP Gary Vidal, who declined to comment on the inauguration.

– with files from paNOW

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports