PARIS: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday defended his government’s backing of a controversial pipeline project, saying the world could not afford to choose between the environment and the economy, reports AFP.

In an interview with French business daily Les Echos ahead of a visit to Paris, Trudeau acknowledged that environmentalists were “concerned” by the Trans Mountain pipeline.

But he said, “Canadians and people around the world know that we cannot choose between what is good for the environment and good for the economy.”

“You have to do both at the same time, and above all, you have to fund the transition towards reduced use of fossil fuels.”

On Thursday, the Liberal premier cut short a visit to Peru to try defuse a threatened constitutional crisis over expanding a 1,150-kilometre (715-mile) pipeline to move 890,000 barrels of oil per day from landlocked Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific coast.