Kenney’s bad Keystone XL bet

Alberta’s premier went all in on the controversial pipeline but may lose his shirt

Alberta premier Jason Kenney made a big gamble on TC Energy’s controversial Keystone XL (KXL) crude pipeline at the end of March. The victory of Joe Biden in November’s US election means it is unlikely to pay off. Kenney backstopped the pipeline project with C$7.5bn ($5.75bn) of public money—consisting of a C$1.5bn equity stake in 2020 and a C$6bn loan guarantee in 2021—to ensure a positive FID and a quick start to construction before the US presidential vote. Besides creating jobs and economic activity in his struggling province, Kenney was hoping to create ‘facts on the ground’ to discourage the next US administration from kyboshing the project yet again. C$7.5bn – Albertan backstop