EDMONTON — Alberta’s finance minister says taxpayers won’t be on the hook for much more beyond $1.3 billion already committed to the defunct Keystone XL pipeline.
Travis Toews did not provide specifics on the final amount when speaking today to a budget review committee.
But he says he doesn’t expect taxpayers’ exposure will be, in his words, “materially” much more than what has been spent.
Premier Jason Kenney and his United Conservative government had committed $1.5 billion and $6 billion more in loan guarantees to the cross-border mega project to take more Alberta oil across the United States. and down to ports and refineries on the Gulf Coast in Texas.
U.S. President Joe Biden, citing climate change considerations, fulfilled a campaign promise and cancelled the project on his first day in office in January.
Kenney’s government has declined to divulge details on the funding agreement with the pipeline’s builder, TC Energy, leading to questions about how much Alberta taxpayers will ultimately owe.