WASHINGTON — The White House says Prime Minister Stephen Harper shouldn’t expect any new information if he presses for details on Keystone XL at a leaders’ summit next week.
Senior officials in the Obama administration said at a media briefing on Friday that Harper will be told privately the same thing he’s been hearing elsewhere in public comments from U.S. decision-makers about the proposed TransCanada pipeline.
The message? There’s a process underway in the U.S., the process is not politically directed, and it’s not clear when it will end.
Harper is expected to raise the long-delayed pipeline when he meets President Barack Obama next week in Mexico at a North American leaders’ gathering — and the answer’s already in the can.
“What President Obama will do is explain to him where we are in the review ... and indicate that, of course, we’ll let our Canadian friends know when we’ve arrived at a decision,” one official said.
“Frankly, the message that he’ll be delivering is quite similar to the one you’ve heard from us publicly.”