Prime Minister Harper has told an audience of business leaders and academics that Canada and the U-S cannot afford to turn up their noses at the jobs the Keystone XL pipeline would create.

Harper was in New York today, where he took part in a question and answer session with the Council on Foreign Relations.

He told the group the pipeline would create 40-thousand jobs over the life of the project in the U-S alone.

Harper says he thinks all the facts — including those dealing with the environment — justify approval of the pipeline, which would carry Alberta oilsands crude to Gulf Coast refineries.