Keystone XL pipeline 'needs to go ahead,' Harper tells U.S.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told an American audience today that the Keystone XL pipeline "absolutely needs to go ahead."

Harper made the pipeline pitch while taking questions at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.

He laid out the case for why President Barack Obama's administration should approve the proposed pipeline, touting job creation prospects. Harper said the project will create 40,000 jobs south of the Canadian border and that can't be ignored.

"This is an enormous benefit to the U.S. in terms of long-term energy security," Harper said.

He said that greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the Alberta oilsands have dropped by 25 per cent over the last decade and that the government is continuing to invest in technology to further reduce emissions.

The prime minister also said that the amount of emissions from the oilsands play a small part in total global emissions.

"It's almost nothing globally," he said, adding later that Canada is a small contributor compared to other big oil producers such as Venezuela.

"I don't have to tell you there are probably reasons beyond just emissions why you would want to have your oil from Canada rather than Venezuela," he said.

Harper said when all the economic and other factors are weighed, it's clear why there is such broad support for the Keystone XL project in the U.S.

"I think this absolutely needs to go ahead but you can rest assured that making our emissions targets including in the oilsands sector is an important objective for the government of Canada," he said.

The proposed TransCanada Corp. pipeline would connect the Alberta oilsands to the Gulf Coast and is one of the major issues dominating Canada-U.S. relations.

Harper and members of his cabinet have been making repeated trips to the U.S. over the last few months to push for the project's approval. But those opposed to it say further development of Alberta's oilsands and the pipeline will have damaging effects on the environment, including increased greenhouse gas emissions.

This week, in advance of the prime minister's appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations, the government took out ads in U.S. publications and launched a new website to promote its sector-by-sector regulatory approach to reducing emissions.

Harper took several questions on climate change, Canada's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol and other topics including foreign investment and the conflict in Syria.

Anti-Keystone protesters were outside Harper's event.