Enbridge chief executive Al Monaco says the company's controversial Northern Gateway project is a strategic project for Canada.
Without access to the West Coast, Monaco says, oil producers will face a further discounting in prices in the North American market caused by a supply glut at a key storage hub in Cushing, Okla.
The glut has caused oil priced at Cushing -- the WTI benchmark -- to trade at a discount to other international benchmarks.
A joint review panel has been holding public hearings on the project this year and is expected to report by the end of next year.
The $6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project has faced significant opposition from groups concerned about what a spill from the pipeline, or from a tanker on the West Coast, could do to the environment.
B.C. Premier Christy Clark has also set out five conditions before her government will back the project.
