(Adds quotes, details, analysis, background)
By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Canada's new Liberal government
backs TransCanada Corp 's TRP.TO Keystone XL pipeline, but does
not want the project opposed by environmentalists to spoil
relations with the United States, Foreign Minister Stephane Dion
said on Thursday.
Washington has spent more than seven years deciding whether
to approve the northern leg of the $8 billion pipeline, which
would take oil from Alberta's crude-rich tar sands to U.S.
refineries.
U.S. President Barack Obama, under pressure from
environmentalists, is widely expected to veto the proposed
pipeline before he leaves office in early 2017.
The United States formally denied a request on Wednesday to
pause the review of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, seen
by many as an attempt to postpone the decision until after the
presidential election in November 2016.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has said she opposes
the pipeline while many Republican candidates support the
project for making America less reliant on the Middle East.
The Liberals back Keystone XL but have made it clear they
will not adopt the same tack as Canada's outgoing Conservatives,
who irritated the U.S. administration by constantly pressuring
it to approve the pipeline.
"Our position is that it is up to the Americans to see what
they can do but we support this project and we hope that it will
work well," Dion told reporters.
Asked about the strain Keystone had imposed on ties with the
United States, by far Canada's most important partner, he
replied: "We don't want it to be an irritant ... we understand
the Americans have to look at this very closely."
U.S. officials made little secret of their unhappiness with
the Conservatives' blunt tactics and lectures.
New Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says relations
with the United States are far broader than just one project and
did not raise the pipeline with Obama when the two men talked
last month for the first time.
Former Canadian diplomat Colin Robertson, who had several
postings in the United States, said the Liberal government would
be best advised to put Keystone to one side.
"They (the Americans) are desperate to try and get this
relationship back on an even keel," said Robertson, vice
president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.