Keystone pipeline outlook grim

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is painting a grim picture over the future of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

He calls Thursday’s decision by the U.S. State Department to delay the pipeline “quite a crucial” one, adding that he not sure that the project will survive the delay.

The proposed $7 billion pipeline would ship crude from the northern Alberta oilsands to the U.S. Gulf Coast but Washington wants it diverted away from a Nebraska aquifer.