CLEVELAND — Reviving the Keystone XL pipeline project from Canada has become an official policy of the Republican party in the 2016 election, with its inclusion in the platform that's just been approved at the national convention.

The ill-fated oil pipeline is the only detailed reference to Canada in the 66-page document adopted by delegates to the convention in Cleveland which meets through Thursday.

"Our Canadian neighbors can count on our co-operation and respect,'' the platform says.

"To advance North America's energy independence, we intend to reverse the current administration's blocking of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Apart from its economic value, that project has become a symbol in the contest between the public's desire for economic development and the government's hostility to growth. We stand with the people."

Cross-border permit refused last fall

The document accuses the Obama administration of killing the project for purely political motives, saying it simply did so to satisfy environmentalists who support the Democratic party.

The decision last fall to refuse a cross-border permit ended years of suspense over the project, which if completed would have carried just under one-quarter of the oil Canada exports daily to U.S. refineries and would also have carried some American oil.

It's hardly surprising to see it referenced in the platform: support for Keystone XL had been longstanding Republican policy and was in the 2012 platform. It's also supported by presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump.

It's also worth noting that a party platform plays a different role here than in Canada. In Canada, it's viewed as a to-do list that governments are expected to try completing if they have a parliamentary majority. In the U.S., individual parties rarely have such power to force through their whole legislative agenda — so a platform is considered more of a guide than a list of boxes to tick.