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Opposition politicians expressed surprise and concern Thursday following a television report of a secret plan for Canada to dramatically expand its oil sands exports to the U.S.


Radio-Canada reported Wednesday evening that it had obtained the minutes of a secret meeting between American and Albertan oil executives that occured shortly after last year's federal election.


The meeting was arranged by Natural Resources Canada and the U.S. Department of Energy.


According to Radio-Canada's documents, the Canadians and Americans developed a proposal to increase oil sands exports to the U.S. "fivefold" in a short period of time. The plan would require Canada to "streamline" environmental regulations to speed up the expansion.


The U.S. need for Canadian oil is being fuelled largely by national security objectives outlined by the White House to reduce American dependency on oil produced in unstable parts of the world, such as the Mideast.


U.S. President George W. Bush outlined this policy broadly in last year's State of the Union Address when he said "America is addicted to oil which is often imported from unstable parts of the world."


While contributing to Canada's steady economic growth in recent years, Canada's oil sands have increasingly become the target of criticism from environmental groups because of the large amount of greenhouse gas emitted in extracting oil from the tar sands.