Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent comment that Canada and the United States will move forward after the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline project, the public debate on the fate of Alberta’s troubled bitumen sector still burns.
Back on Jan. 20, U.S. President Joe Biden reversed the approval of the project, fulfilling one of his election promises. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney called the decision a “gut punch.”
For environmental groups, the cancellation of Keystone XL reset American climate policy that had been hit hard by the Trump administration. More crucially, it was a “people-powered victory” following more than 10 years of grassroots action that drew on economic and legal means to stop the pipeline.