There is no "spat" between the Canadian and U.S. governments. The environmentalists don't like fossil fuels and are opposing fossil fuel development at every turn. Obama has caved to them. So he flipped Canada the bird and made it clear that, so long as he is in the White House, the U.S. government would block utilization of this resource.
This is not a spat. It is a straightforward policy call by a President whose conception of the national interest does not include affordable energy.
Not true. The folks who OWN the environmental move-mint love "fossil fuels" (but for coal, ain't no such thing; petrochemicals are geological in origin), but they LOVE higher prices for existing sources even more, especially without having to risk investment in new sources.