President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper held a press availability after the two met Wednesday. A passage from the transcript that contained news:

We discussed energy security and climate change. I remind all our American friends that Canada is by far the largest supplier of energy to the United States. And we are determined to be a continental partner in dealing with the joint — with the very linked problems of climate change and energy security. Our two ministers, our respective ministers have provided us with a report on the clean energy dialogue, which I think shows some great progress in identifying areas of joint action. I think the next step will be some specific projects that we can pursue.

Today, Canada is announcing a major hydroelectric project, a big transmission line in northwestern British Columbia, which has the capacity down the road to be part of a more integrated North American hydroelectric system that will be obviously part of dealing with both these problems of energy security and climate change.

From the Prime Minister’s office, the news release, “PM announces Canada’s investment in Northwest Transmission Line.”

From Canadian Press, “Harper announces money for B.C. transmission line that will fuel mining industry“:

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced millions of dollars in funding Wednesday for a long-awaited electricity line in northern British Columbia that has the mining industry dreaming of massive growth in the region.

Harper used a trip to Washington, D.C. to announce up to $130 million in federal cash for the Northwest Transmission Line. The province has already committed $250 million, and the mining industry is expected to pick up the rest of the estimated $404 million price tag.

Good to see the recognition of hydroelectricity as “green power.” But in any case, the important news is the expansion of transmission capacity and the willingness of Canada’s government to support the extractive industries that create wealth and jobs.

From The Globe and Mail, Toronto, noting PM Harper’s meeting with congressional leaders on the Buy American provisions in the stimulus bill that provoked Canadian responses and hurt companies on both sides of the border, “PM prepares to lobby U.S. Congress.”

Canadian prime ministers troop to the White House every few years, but rarely lobby the congressional leadership who control matters key to Canada’s interests – such as inserting Buy American clauses into stimulus-spending bills. Mr. Harper meets Mr. Obama for less than an hour Wednesday, but will hold two sessions Thursday with the top Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate.

“In the American system, particularly when it comes to issues of trade and protectionism, often our bigger challenges are in Congress, as opposed to the administration,” Mr. Harper said in an interview with CTV News before he left for Washington.

“So far the administration has responded quite positively to our offers and our attempts to deal with this. But it may be the case that the administration alone can’t deal with it. That’s something we’ll have to gauge on this trip.”

The prime minister will also talk about the move by some in Congress to punish Canada for developing its oil sands in northern Alberta. Environmental groups are engaging in protests and stunts against PM Harper’s visit, agitating against U.S. energy security. See SecureOurFuel.org’s commentary, “Greenpeace’s War on Reality.” Key excerpt:

of PetroChina’s involvement (financial and otherwise) in the oil sands eliminated all doubt, if any remained, that even if U.S. policymakers end our unique relationship on energy with Canada, those resources will continue to be produced for, sold to and used by millions (billions?) of grateful energy consumers in Asia – impacting America’s economic and strategic position, but doing nothing to limit the emission of carbon dioxide (in fact, according to one respected study, emissions may actually increase under an LCFS).

UPDATEHow ‘Buy American’ Can Hurt U.S. Firms“:

Mr. Pokorsky runs Aquarius Technologies Inc., a company in Port Washington, Wis., that makes equipment to treat sewage. The stimulus plan earmarks some $6 billion for municipal wastewater projects that are right in his company’s sweet spot.

But the bill’s Buy American provisions — meant to give U.S. companies a leg up on foreign competition — are causing Aquarius and other U.S. companies a lot of grief with both suppliers and clients in Canada.

Protectionism invites retaliation invites further protectionism invites further …

Let’s start with some basic facts about Canada’s contribution’s to the U.S. economy From the Energy Information Administration background sheet:

In 2006, Canada produced 19.3 quadrillion British Thermal Units (Btu) of total energy, the fifth-largest amount in the world. Since 1980, Canada’s total energy production has increased by 87 percent, while its total energy consumption has increased by only 44 percent. Almost all of Canada’s energy exports go to the United States, making it the largest source of U.S. energy imports. Canada is consistently among the top sources for U.S. oil imports, and it is the largest source of U.S. natural gas and electricity imports. Recognizing the importance of the energy trade between the two countries, both participate in the North American Energy Working Group, which seeks to improve energy integration and cooperation between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.

Our emphasis. As an ally, free country, and dependable energy supplier, Canada is an essential contributor of U.S. energy security.

Some groups are dedicated to crippling that energy production — and U.S. energy use –  by demonizing petroleum produced from the Alberta oil sands. And, by making oil sands a bete noire, they hope to prevent development of similar U.S. energy resources such as shale oil. The anti-energy, anti-growth agenda will be on display this week when Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, comes to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with President Obama.

From The Globe and Mail, “Oil sands under attack on environment“:

The environmental battle over Alberta’s oil sands is going global, forcing the industry to respond to new attacks on its record and putting fresh pressure on Ottawa.

The Calgary-based industry is accustomed to defending its image in North America, but it now faces a multifront war. That growing global opposition is highlighted by its role in today’s federal election in Norway, where the state-owned oil company’s plans for the oil sands have sparked controversy.

As well, a documentary that premiered in Switzerland and is now playing at the Toronto International Film Festival depicts the projects’ devastating environmental impact; and a delegation of Chinese journalists is planning a visit to the scarred landscape of northeastern Alberta.

At the same time, U.S. activists are continuing their attacks in Washington, scheduling a news conference this week ahead of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit with President Barack Obama to highlight the dramatic increase in emissions that would occur if oil sands production is expanded as planned.

Along with tendentious documentaries, the latest tactic for attacking Canadian oil is the low-carbon fuel standard, which we wrote about here and here. As the industry alliance, Secure Our Fuels, explains, the standard attempts to shut out the U.S. No. 1 foreign supplier of energy:

Under an LCFS, if the oil isn’t “Jed Clampett” ready – that is, able to be produced without much time, talent or effort – it isn’t a form that’s treated kindly. And since so much of Canada’s oil resources are classified as “heavy,” very little of it will be eligible for shipment to U.S. markets – forcing American consumers to contract with foreign, unstable suppliers half-a-world away instead.

Exactly right. U.S. economic growth, our national prosperity, is going to require the use of petroleum for many decades to come. Putting one dependable supplier, Canada, off limits will raise the cost of energy, slow domestic economic growth, and at the same time make the U.S. more reliant on less secure suppliers like Venezuela and Middle Eastern countries. The opponents of Albertan oil sands know all this, and they mostly don’t care.

CanWest News Service, this morning, “Canada signs free-trade agreement with Panama“:

PANAMA CITY — Prime Minister Stephen Harper will sign a free-trade agreement with Panama on Tuesday morning, giving Canadian business greater access to the small but fast-growing Central American economy.

 

Once the deal is ratified, Panama will immediately eliminate tariffs on more than 90 per cent of its current imports from Canada. The remaining tariffs will fall within a decade.

And from the Aug. 5 letter to President Obama from major business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, referring to the pending Colombia, Korea, and Panama free trade agreements:

In particular, we urge you to pursue major market-opening agreements with the Asia-Pacific and beyond, as well as more focused initiatives on an industry and country-specific basis, including the passage of the three pending trade agreements.  Such initiatives will help enable U.S. workers and industries to gain access to the 95 percent of the world’s consumers, who command 80 percent of the world’s purchasing power and who live outside U.S. borders. …

Failure to lead will be costly to the United States.  Our manufacturers, farmers and service providers will continue to face significant barriers in foreign markets and will also be disadvantaged vis-à-vis many of their foreign competitors whose governments are negotiating agreements to ensure that their industries and workers have new market-opening opportunities.

Good message on trade coming from the meetings in Ottawa between President Obama, on his first trip abroad, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Bloomberg, “Obama Says U.S., Canada Must Avoid Erecting Barriers to Trade”

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said the U.S. and Canada must avoid erecting trade barriers or impeding cross- border commerce amid a worldwide recession.

Obama also said he raised with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper the idea of putting labor and environmental provisions within the main body of the North American Free Trade Agreement without unraveling the accord.

“Now is a time when we’ve got to be very careful about any signals of protectionism,” Obama said at a joint news conference with Harper in Ottawa.

Canada and the U.S. have the world’s largest commercial relationship, with almost $600 billion in trade annually. Each nation is the other’s largest trading partner.

Reuters, “Canada PM says confident U.S. will meet trade obligations“:

OTTAWA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday he is confident that the United States will live up to its international trade obligations under NAFTA and the WTO in relation to the “Buy American” clause in the recent U.S. stimulus package.

Harper, speaking at a joint news conference with U.S. President Barack Obama, said that Canada’s economy cannot recover without a recovery by the U.S. economy.

Canada and the United States have the world’s largest trading relationship, worth about $1.5 billion a day. ($1=$1.26 Canadian)

The White House has now posted on its website yesterday’s briefing with Denis Mcdonough, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication, on President Obama’s trip to Ottawa on Thursday. Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton hosted the briefing, conducted by teleconference. Mcdonough:

There will be a lot of discussion of the economic recovery plan that the President is signing today, and the synergies of that plan with the stimulus package that Prime Minister Harper has proposed in Canada, as obviously both of them have infrastructure investment in clean and renewable energy and green jobs and tax cuts for working families.

They’ll also obviously be discussing, given the fact that Canada is the largest energy provider to the United States, our shared interest in energy and the environment, significant discussion of cooperation on clean energy technology. And the President is hopeful that they can — that he’ll be able to build on the very productive conversation he had with President Calderón of Mexico last month here in Washington, before he was sworn in, wherein he and President Calderón talked about possibilities for carbon abatement, clean energy technology, and a partnership among the three North American countries on those issues.

Carbon abatement — wonder if that signifies opposition to Alberta oil sands.

White House advisors Larry Summers and Carole Browner will be along on the trip.

Thanks, by the way, to the White House for getting the briefing up just a day after it was conducted. We’re still waiting for last week’s briefings from the press secretary, Robert Gibbs. And that’s not a snide remark. We sincerely want to read them — Friday’s looked interesting — and are mystified as to what’s taking so long. Transparency, transparency, transparency.

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were re-elected as the government in Canada this week, gaining more seats in the Parliament, a success that merits close attention in the United States. For one thing, voters resoundedly defeated the opposition Liberals’ call for a carbon tax. With Canada relatively untouched by the global financial crisis, voters did not punish Harper for being in power.

Most notably, Harper is a strong advocate of free-trade agreements, so Canadians explicitly rejected the protectionism that can be found in other political parties, especially the leftist New Democrats.

Today, preliminary talks open in Quebec City between Canada and the European Union on a free-trade agreement, or an “economic partnership” as it is being described, a meeting that included Prime Minister Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy headed the meeting — Sarkozy currently holds the EU’s rotating chairmanship — and EU President  José Manuel Durão Barroso.

The case is compelling, especially in light of the current financial crisis. From The Ottawa Citizen.com:

OTTAWA - Business leaders say the stars are aligned for Canada and the European Union to begin talks on an “ambitious” trade liberalization deal that could see both economies reap combined benefits of nearly $40 billion a year.

The $40-billion figure will emerge from a joint Canada-EU study to be released Friday, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, in Quebec City. At present, two-way trade between Canada and EU countries stands at $100 billion.

The study, say people familiar with its contents, will suggest a wide-ranging trade liberalization deal would boost Canada’s annual real income, up until 2014, by $16 billion. That translates into 0.8 per cent of Canada’s GDP. The EU would realize a gain of $22.5 billion a year, or 0.1 per cent of its GDP.

The Globe and Mail reports the focus will be on services:

Both sides are expected to emphasize the benefits of removing barriers to trade in services, as opposed to goods, based on the study, which concluded that tariffs on most goods are already relatively low. Canadian officials had repeatedly pressed for the negotiations to be called “free trade” discussions, apparently because it is a term Canadians understand, according to a source from a European nation.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest has pushed hard for the arrangement, and the statement will be issued when French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, is in Quebec City for the Francophonie Summit.

“The financial crisis makes this deal even more likely,” said Jason Langrish, the executive-director of the Canada Europe Roundtable for Business (CERT), an association that tries to boost trade and business links between the two economies. “We need to create liquidity between these markets.”

Powerful arguments for a Canada-EU Free Trade Agreement….or even more.

From The Economist, “No Change for Canada“:

IT IS an emphatic victory, even if the ruling party has failed, again, to secure a majority in parliament. Results from the general election held on Tuesday October 14th suggest that the Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, have secured 143 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, a gain of 16 seats. The Liberal Party, led by Stéphane Dion, has suffered a serious defeat, picking up just 76 seats.

From the U.K. Telegraph:

The Liberals were handed a sound defeat on the issue of the environment, especially a carbon tax to fight global warming.

“I don’t believe that it will completely die, but it’s tough to see it being advanced by the Conservatives after they campaigned so stridently against it,” said Doug Porter, an economist with BMO Capital Markets.

“I suspect that given the current financial market turmoil, the likelihood of at least a moderate North American recession, and the unpopularity of the B.C. carbon tax, that a national carbon tax will be put aside for some time.”

Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason, “The environment was not a winning issue on this campaign trail“:

It may be some time before we again see a political leader in Canada brave enough to build a campaign platform around saving the environment.

The world economic crisis that may take a few years to fix has something to do with that. But so, too, does the outcome of last night’s federal election, which saw the Conservatives returned to power, partly on the back of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion’s muddled message on the environment.

Watching closely, no doubt, was B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who heads into an election of his own in the spring having to defend an unpopular carbon tax he has so far vowed to maintain. Of course, Mr. Dion’s much-mocked Green Shift environmental proposal also included a carbon tax, one he never had much success promoting on the campaign trail.

Results from CBC.

From The Associated Press, as reported in today’s Washington Post, “Canadian Leader Faces Election Test“:

TORONTO, Oct. 12 — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is gambling that an opposition pushing an unpopular carbon tax will steer voters to the right in Tuesday’s election and bolster his hold on power…[snip]

The signature issue of Liberal leader Stéphane Dion is a proposal for a carbon tax on all fossil fuels except gasoline.

Conservatives say the “Green Shift” tax plan would drive up energy costs. Dion has said he would offset the higher energy prices by cutting income taxes, but he has had little success selling the plan.

OK, here’s how we see it. If the Tories win big, it’s because the voters recoiled against the carbon tax. If the Tories underperform and the Liberals record a surprisingly strong turnout, it’s because of…well, the carbon tax had nothing to do with it.

On a serious note, Prime Minister Harper has been a consistent, firm and persuasive advocate for the benefits of free trade. We appreciate his leadership.