(Interview starts at 13:08)

In recent months, we've seen Stephen Harper conduct more long-form interviews.

It's actually a smart strategy: In these types of interviews, the prime minister comes across very intelligent, articulate and personable.

In his most recent Q & A interview — at an address to the Council of Foreign Relations on Thursday in New York City — Harper talked about why President Obama should approve the Keystone XL pipeline, about what keeps him up at night and about greater economic integration with the United States.

If you don't have an hour to spend to watch the whole video above, here are some of the highlights of what he had to say.

About balancing environmental concerns with the development of the oil sands:

Oil sands -- first of all, one needs to put this in a global perspective. Less than one-tenth of 1 percent of global emissions are in the oil sands. And so it -- it's, you know, almost nothing globally.

We've had a 25 percent reduction over the past decade or so in

Mike Duffy's troubles continue to mount.

CBC News is reporting that the Senate Finance Committee may again review Duffy's expenses following a Canadian Press story which alleged that he was claiming Senate expenses while campaigning for the Conservatives in 2011.

"In light of yesterday's media reports regarding Senator Duffy's expense claims, senators will be asking that the report concerning Senator Duffy be referred back to committee for further examination taking into account this new information," a spokesperson for Marjory LeBreton, leader of the government in the Senate, told CBC.

Duffy was forced to resign from the Conservative caucus Thursday evening after it was learned that Nigel Wright, the prime minister's chief of staff, personally funded Duffy's repayment of $90,000 in improperly-claimed living expenses.

[ Related: Senator Mike Duffy resigns from the Conservative caucus ]

Duffy's resignation will serve as a brief respite for the Tories, who were undoubtedly feeling the public

On Thursday evening, the much-maligned Senator released this statement:

"It is clear the public controversy surrounding me and the repayment of my Senate expenses has become a significant distraction to my caucus colleagues, and to the government," Duffy said in a statement according to the Globe and Mail.

"Given that my presence within the Conservative caucus only contributes to that distraction, I have decided to step outside of the caucus and sit as an independent Senator pending resolution of these questions.

"Throughout this entire situation I have sought only to do the right thing. I look forward to all relevant facts being made clear in due course, at which point I am hopeful I will be able to rejoin the Conservative caucus. This has been a difficult time for me and my family, and we are going to take some time away from the public. I ask the media to respect our privacy while these questions are resolved through the appropriate

Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks during a business round table at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, May 16, 2013.The Harper government is going all out in its attempts to convince the Obama administration to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline project.

It seems, however, that the environmentalists are fighting back pound for pound.

On Thursday, Stephen Harper was in New York City addressing the Council on Foreign Relations — an influential foreign policy think tank — where he spoke about the importance of the controversial pipeline which would transport up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from northern Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.

[ Related: Environmentalists’ worst nightmare: Majority of Canadians, Americans support Keystone XL pipeline ]

"This is an enormous benefit to the U.S. in terms of long-term energy security," Harper said, according to CBC News.

"I think this absolutely needs to go ahead but you can rest assured that making our emissions target including in the oilsands is an important objective for the government of Canada."

Harper told the crowd that greenhouse emissions from the oilsands

Senator Mike Duffy leaving a meeting on Parliament Hill last weekWhat you do with a problem like Mike Duffy?

That's the question that Conservative insiders are invariably asking themselves today.

With it being 2 years before an election, with Justin Trudeau emerging on the national scene and after 7 years in office this is a problem that the Tories don't need.

At the risk of hyperbole, if it's allowed to continue without some sort of action, the Duffy/Wright 'scandal' could essentially be the end of the Conservative government.

[ Related: PM’s chief of staff wrote personal cheque to repay Mike Duffy’s Senate expenses ]

Let's put this into perspective: The prime minister's right hand man has loaned or gifted an government official $90,000 to reimburse taxpayers for falsely claiming a government benefit. Moreover, none of the terms of the deal have been made public.

The Tories have concocted an unbelievable tale that Duffy and Wright are buddies so the latter just gifted him $90,000 without telling the prime minister. The story might be true but it sounds

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (Reuters)

We've had our share of wacky Rob Ford stories over the past couple of years, but this has to be one of the wackiest.

On Wednesday morning, the Toronto Star broke a news story about another...ahem...Ford scandal.

[ Related: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford offers to explain politics to women ]

The venerable newspaper reported that Toronto's mayor spent about 15 minutes, the previous evening, in an Etobicoke parking lot placing fridge magnets — with included his name and home phone number — on cars.

That sound you heard late Tuesday night were collective sighs of relief in Ottawa as Stephen Harper and his Conservative government watched B.C. Premier Christy Clark defy the polls and lead her Liberal party to an unexpected fourth term in government.

Clark may have lost her own seat to the NDP's David Eby, a popular civil rights lawyer, but a quick byelection in a safe Liberal seat will fix that.

A New Democrat victory in the B.C. election would have put a stick in the spokes of Harper's resource-based economic development policy.

The Tories are especially counting on oil sands exports to generate jobs. NDP leader Adrian Dix had already nixed a proposal to expand Kinder Morgan's existing Trans Mountain pipeline to Vancouver and seemed ready to block Enbridge Inc.'s massive Northern Gateway project, involving a pipeline across northern B.C. and an export terminal near Kitimat. Both face broad opposition from area residents.

Clark has not pronounced on the Kinder Morgan project and has not

The Ontario Liberals have a new leader in Kathleen Wynne.

Well, now they have a new logo.

Unfortunately, it isn't getting a lot of love on social media, with some suggesting that the look was inspired by the popular computer game Tetris.

The new Liberal Ontario Party logo, as awful as the party itself. #awful #olp #onpoli twitter.com/b_scheller/sta…

— Bartosz Scheller (@b_scheller) May 15, 2013

New #Liberal logo: bit.ly/10utnXY -obviously some 'genius' over at the #Liberal brain-trust is a #Tetris fan.. #onpoli #lame #boring

— K.W.W. (@KevinWeatherbee) May 15, 2013

Hell, the 70s federal Liberal logo was better... AND IT WAS THE 70s! data2.archives.ca/e/e431/e010756…

— Christopher (@heytopher) May 15, 2013

“Awful”?! The new Ontario Liberal logo is a super-sophisticated subliminal pitch to voters who grew up on Tetris. warrenkinsella.com/2013/05/worst-…

— Dan Gardner (@dgardner) May 15, 2013

Liberal insider and Sun News analyst Warren Kinsella also wasn't a fan.

"Oh my Lord, this is awful," he wrote