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President Barack Obama will approve the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline proposal if he applies "rational reasoning," Canada's ambassador to the U.S. Gary Doer said.

"He's a rational, logical person. I believe that the rationale for having Canadian oil and North Dakota and Montana oil going on a pipeline instead of on trucks and trains to the Gulf Coast is logical," Doer said in a weekend interview with Platts Energy Week TV.

Doer, a former NDP premier of Manitoba, also slammed the U.S. media for its Keystone coverage.

"Twenty people protesting do get more attention in the media than the 65% of Americans that prefer to get their oil from Canada rather than Venezuela or the Middle East," Doer said. "When you look at it, public opinion supports it."

The Canadian government hopes the U.S. administration will "do the right thing" and approve $7 billion pipeline proposal, which would ship Alberta crude to the Texas Gulf Coast.