Alberta is very close to finalizing an agreement with Ottawa on a pipeline and carbon pricing, Premier Danielle Smith said Friday afternoon.
Smith made the announcement at the Canada Strong and Free Networking conference, a national conservative networking conference.
“I’m feeling much more confident that we are finally going to be able to land the [Memorandum of Understanding],” she told a packed room.
In November, Alberta and Ottawa signed an MOU that committed Alberta to advancing the development of a pipeline by the private sector. And it committed Ottawa to declaring that pipeline a priority and referring it to its newly formed Major Projects Office.
The premier met with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday morning. The meeting gave her much more confidence that a deal will be reached, Smith told reporters after her speech.
Smith said she was confident that an agreement with Ottawa would be in place before Alberta submits a pipeline proposal to the Major Projects Office in June.
Smith was the only current premier to speak at this year’s conference. In her talk, she presented Alberta as an example of how conservative policies can lead to prosperity.
“We’re doing something right and people are noticing,” she told the crowd, which was one of the largest of the two-day conference. “Our ideas work to make people’s lives better.”
Smith listed several of her government’s successes, including using the notwithstanding clause to ban gender transition surgeries for minors; restricting medical assistance in dying (MAID); and passing a law to restrict professional regulators from sanctioning members for sharing controversial personal opinions.
“We’re putting an end to the era of wokeism,” she told the eager crowd.
The clearest example of that is the province’s intentions to build pipelines to B.C and to the United States.
Pipelines are more than business ventures, Smith said. They demonstrate the need for provinces and the federal government to work together, and not have the federal government dictate policies that are in provincial jurisdiction.
This co-operation, Smith said, could be key to showing Alberta separatists the importance of remaining in Canada.
“A lot of our product is in the ground, in a pipeline going to the U.S.,” she said. With the vast majority of Alberta’s oil going to the U.S., Alberta “can’t diversify” its trading partners, she said.
A new Keystone
In April, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to revive part of the abandoned Keystone pipeline project.
Under this new plan, nearly 500,000 barrels of oil a day would travel from Alberta to Wyoming. It would travel a different route than the cancelled Keystone XL project, but use some of the pipelines that had been constructed for that project.
Canadian politicians’ frustration at Trump’s tariff policies is understandable, Smith said. But, in her opinion, just asking Trump not to do something because it will hurt Canada will not work. It is more effective to show the president that Canada can be a good business partner.
“The United States is our most important trading partner,” she said. “They’re our closest friend.”
Alberta needs oil and gas, she said. The province’s geography will not allow other energy sources, like hydroelectricity, to be sustainable.
“There isn’t just a replacement for oil and gas,” she said. Solar and wind energy will not produce enough reliable energy for Alberta, she said.
For Albertans, federal government approval for a pipeline to B.C. “would be an indication that Canada can work,” Smith said during her speech.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Smith further expanded on how a pipeline could help quell the rising tides of separatism in the province.
“I’ve always taken the independence movement very seriously,” Smith told reporters, adding that she has spoken to Carney about Alberta’s separatist movement.
She wants Alberta to stay in Canada. “I know that there are people who are frustrated, disappointed, given up. And it’s my job — and I think [Carney] sees it as his job — to make the case about how we can work through these differences,” she said.
“We’ll never agree 100 per cent on everything, but we need to demonstrate that co-operative federalism works. In areas of provincial jurisdiction we get to assert that we can do things our own way. In areas of joint jurisdiction, we have to be able to find ways to get to a win-win.”
Business partners have not yet been identified for a future pipeline to B.C., Smith told reporters. Businesses will not want to commit to a project if they are not completely confident it will happen, she said.
The premier, who recently visited Europe, also indicated that Alberta is exploring more trade opportunities with European countries. Smith told the conference that Alberta may need to set up a trade office in Belgium.
