John McCain has tapped Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a conservative who shares his maverick streak, to be the Republican vice-presidential running mate.
In an announcement, McCain's campaign said that Palin, who has been governor less than two years, "has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of."
"Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today," the announcement said.
Palin has a strong connection to Western Canada's energy market.
Her appointment comes just days after she approved a licence for Trans-Canada Corp. (TSX:TRP) to start developing a natural gas pipeline.
The licence allows TransCanada to move forward with plans to develop the 2,760-km pipeline from a treatment plant at Prudhoe Bay to the Alberta hub.
It ends a decades-long battle to open up North Slope natural gas for use in North American markets, with 4.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas to be shipped daily.
The licence does not guarantee construction, but it means TransCanada can move forward on costly federal permit applications. The project is estimated to cost between $26 billion and $30 billion.
TransCanada hopes to have the pipeline in service by September 2018.
The Alaska state approval comes with up to $500 million in state seed money. It also sets up a race with a competing pipeline venture established by oil giants BP PLC and ConocoPhillips.
The proposed pipeline would parallel the route of the existing trans-Alaska oil pipeline to a point south of Fairbanks.
It would then follow the Alaska Highway, continuing through northern British Columbia to link with the Alberta hub on TransCanada's pipeline grid in northwestern Alberta.
With his pick, McCain passed over more prominent contenders like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, as well as others such as former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge.
The timing of McCain's selection appeared designed to limit any political gain Barack Obama derived from his own convention last week.
Public opinion polls show a close race between Obama and McCain, and with scarcely two months remaining until the election, neither contender can allow the other to jump out to a big post-convention lead.
At 44, Palin is a generation younger than two of McCain's seven children. She also is considerably younger than Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, who is Obama's running mate on the Democratic ticket.
She is three years Obama's junior, as well - and McCain has made much in recent weeks of Obama's relative lack of experience in foreign policy and defence matters.
In its formal announcement, the campaign pointed to her powers as head of the Alaska National Guard and the mother of a soldier herself as evidence that she "understands what it takes to lead our nation ..."
A self-styled hockey mom and political reformer, Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 6,500, until she became governor.
She became governor of her state in December 2006 after ousting a governor of her own party in a primary and then dispatching a former governor in the general election.
