Organizers of this summer's mass protests against the Alberta oil sands in Washington, DC, released details of another major demonstration set for early November.

"We've never tried something this ambitious before," reads a release today from tarsandsaction.org. "And we worry that it's too earnest and idealistic…but unlike last time, this time we're working from a position of strength."

The plan: marshall thousands of activists to encircle the White House on November 6, exactly one year before Americans choose their next president.

The goal: convince the Barack Obama administration to kibosh TransCanada's Keystone XL proposal, a 3,200 kilometre pipeline stretched from Alberta's oil sands to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.

Details of today's battle strategy came as several hundred activists protested against oil sands development on the front lawn of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa.

Dozens of them were reportedly arrested trying to enter the House of Commons.

The demonstration was a show of solidarity for the late summer protests in the U.S. Capitol, which resulted in the arrest of more than 1,250 activists, including actress Daryl Hannah.

In Alberta, some media ran harsh rebukes of the Ottawa protesters and the Canadian celebrities, including actors Graham Greene and Tantoo Cardinal, who've supported them.

"Our very civilization runs on oil and to deny that, to suggest there exists today anything resembling a viable alternative to it, is a filthy, stinking lie," reads a Calgary Sun editorial.

Activists cried foul last week after a series of internal U.S. government emails surfaced showing how a TransCanada lobbyist attempted to use political connections to promote the pipeline.

The Obama administration is set to make a decision on Keystone XL by the end of the year.

Geoff Dembicki reports on energy and climate change issues for The Tyee.