MNI BRIEF: Poilievre Wants Canada Energy Route Bypassing U.S.

Canada's Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre on Monday made an election pledge for a new energy and transportation corridor bypassing the U.S., moving the day before President Donald Trump says he's imposing sweeping tariffs and a sign of the growing Canadian view the relationship between two of the world's largest economic allies is coming apart.

Poilievre blamed Liberal red tape for killing projects like the Energy East pipeline that would have brought Alberta crude oil to Atlantic Canada where the country's largest refinery often brings in supplies from the U.S. or Venezuela. At the moment no private company has said such a project is viable. 

Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney has also said the "old relationship" between Canada and the U.S. is over and called for more internal free trade and new export markets. (See: MNI: Canada Will Struggle To Wean Off U.S. Trade Dependence) One of Canada's main energy pipelines runs through Michigan where local officials have held up some permits for more work on that project.