MEXICO CITY – Prime Minister Stephen Harper left Mexico Thursday minus any good news on the Keystone XL pipeline project, but with some forward momentum on a massive trade pact.
And he leaves as well with a hint of progress on setting long-awaited greenhouse gas emission standards for the oil and gas industry in step with the United States.
Harper received no firm commitments from U.S. President Barack Obama on setting joint standards. But government officials believed they received an answer of sorts from Obama on a letter Harper sent his counterpart in the summer that suggests a step forward.
In comments to reporters late Wednesday in Toluca, Mexico, site of the North American leaders’ summit, Obama said he and Harper had agreed to work towards setting standards without getting into specifics.
A senior government official said Thursday that would include the oil and gas sector, but added that the comments were far from a done deal.
The Tories have continually delayed setting emission standards for the oil and gas sector, and given no firm timeline for their unveiling.
Harper and his North American counterparts agreed to present what Obama called a united front against other countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to ensure national interests weren’t compromised.
“The key at this point is to make sure that our countries, which hold ourselves up as champions of free trade, resolve our legitimate national interests in these negotiations so that we can present a united front,” Obama said late Wednesday.
However, parochial concerns would continue to be the key driver behind each country’s position on the trade deal.
The relationship between the “three amigos” – Harper, Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto – is less than perfect.
Harper hasn’t acceded to Pena Nieto’s wish that Canada lift visa requirements for Mexicans. And the Keystone pipeline continues to overshadow the relationship with Obama. But the three put on a united front this week at the end of the so-called Three Amigos summit, agreeing to a multitude of issues to more easily move people and goods across North American borders.
Finalizing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement for the Asia-Pacific region, is considered a way to help plug holes in the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is celebrating 20 years since coming into force.
Domestic concerns among members of the U.S. congress, including Obama’s Democrats, have left the president with questions about the level of support he has for the pact. Harper side-stepped wading into congressional issues, not wanting to comment on this aspect of American politics, but repeated that he wouldn’t sign a bad deal for Canada.
“We will have to have an agreement that can be sold to the Canadian Parliament and ultimately to the Canadian people,” he said.
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