In a November 10, 2011 phone call, then-President Barack Obama told then Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the Keystone XL approval process was on hold. In response, Frank McKenna, who was then Canadian Ambassador to the U.S., wrote a "Financial Post" opinion piece suggesting a west-east pipeline. In June 2013, Irving Oil's Arthur Irving and Frank McKenna discuss the TransCanada negotiations which have frustrated Irving and Irving and TransCanada finally reach a deal. The July 6, 2013 the fire and explosion with a blast radius in the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, the deadliest rail accident since Canada's confederation in 1867, took place. It was caused by the derailment of a freight train carrying Bakken Formation crude oil. Forty-two people died. About half of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec downtown area was destroyed immediately and almost all the remaining downtown buildings had to be demolished because of petroleum contamination.