Harper's no fool. He knows what Obama really is, and what his idiotic views are about the "carbon footprint" Obama thinks the oil sands make- supplying all that oil to the USA.
If Obama tries to "carbon cap" the oil America needs, there are plenty of other countries just waiting to jump into the tar pit, Japan for one, would love to expand their operations in Alberta, and are just waiting to Obama to "carbon tax" some smaller US operators out of there.
If Odumbshite pulls this "carbon footprint" crap, here's what the Canadians should do. First, I read somewhere that Canada is the largest supplier of imported oil to the US. Tighten the spigot some. Second, the Northeast US relies heavily on imported electricity from Canada to assure reserve margins. I say do what countries should naturally do, take care of your own first. Tell Obombah that, gee, we really need to keep those megawatts on our side of the border.
Yes, I know it's tinkering around the edges of a trade war. But Obombah is effectively doing that already with the oil sands carbon footprint nonsense. If he wants to play it that way, fine, but make him understand that two can play it just as well.