TORONTO – Alberta’s finance minister says U.S. politics trumped what should have been a no-brainer decision to approve a proposed oil pipeline from Alberta to Texas.

Last month, the administration of President Obama denied a permit for TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, but left the door open for TransCanada to apply for a new pipeline route that avoids Nebraska’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills region.

Ron Leipert, finance minister of the Canadian province that has the world’s third-largest reserves of oil, said Wednesday in a speech that politics got in the way of what should have been a good economic decision. He called it a no-brainer in his prepared remarks.

Obama said officials did not have enough time to review the project before a Feb. 21 deadline imposed by Congress.