Canadian government donated to Clinton Foundation

A Canadian government agency promoting the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s nonprofit.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Department, which is responsible for the country’s diplomacy, donated between $250,000 and $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation in 2014, according to data released by the group headed by the former president and the former secretary of State.

{mosads}The donation from Canada and other contributions from foreign governments could raise ethical questions for Hillary Clinton, whose supporters expect her to run for president in 2016. The payments were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Clinton was secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, and was responsible during that time for overseeing the federal government’s evaluation of TransCanada Corp.’s application to build the Keystone pipeline from Canada’s oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Largely due to that history, Clinton has stayed mum on the pipeline even after leaving the Obama administration, and has refused repeatedly to weigh in on it.

She rejoined the foundation after leaving the State Department, and it dropped its ban on foreign government contributions last year.

Several oil and natural gas heavyweights also contributed to the fondation, including Exxon Mobil Corp. (up to $5 million); Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (up to $100,000); and BP, ConocoPhillips Co., Chesapeake Energy Corp., Citgo Petroleum Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp (all up to up to $25,000).