Canadian Liberal leader Justin Trudeau's election victory will not influence the United States' eventual decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday.
Canada's outgoing Conservative government under defeated candidate Stephen Harper had been urging the United States to approve a 1,179-mile (1,900-kilometer) pipeline to transport crude from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.
President Barack Obama's government and the US green looby have concerns about the environmental impact of such a project, which would carry dense oil from the "tar sands" of eastern Canada, diluted with benzene.
Trudeau, whose victory in Canada's election was announced Monday, also supports the pipeline but is seen as more environmentally friendly than Harper and has said he will work to soothe US concerns.
But Kerry, addressing a forum for green technology investors, said the change of government in Ottawa would not alter the equation in Washington, which has already been studying the project for seven years.
"The decision on Keystone is being based on the merits and the countervailing balance of all the input that has come from a very exhaustive agency review," he said.
"I've said again and again that I want to get it done as fast as possible," he said of the decision.
Asked if the long delayed verdict was therefore "imminent," Kerry added: "I'm not going to use the word. It'll get done at its appropriate moment but I'd like to see it get done as fast as possible."
Kerry's predecessor at the State Department, Hillary Clinton has come out against Keystone as part of her campaign for the White House, reinforcing Canadian fears that the project will be blocked.
But Obama's administration has yet to make a decision and parts of the energy sector north and south of the border are lobbying Washington to approve it.
