Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s support for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s second batch of seven fast track major projects comes with a clear condition as she ties her backing to federal agreement on a bitumen pipeline and changes to energy laws that she says are driving investment away.
Smith welcomed Ottawa’s move to refer seven additional energy and infrastructure projects to the federal Major Projects Office after an initial list of five in September, yet she stressed that negotiations over a pipeline to Asian markets and overhauls to what she calls “damaging laws” are now “coming down to the wire.”
Carney’s new list brings the total number of referred projects to twelve, with the latest seven spanning a nickel mine in northern Ontario, a hydroelectric project in Iqaluit, a major transmission line in northwest British Columbia, an LNG project in the same region, and two additional mineral mines in Quebec and New Brunswick.
Smith’s priority bitumen pipeline is conspicuously absent from the referred list despite sustained lobbying from her government, so she has effectively moved the project into the centre of a broader negotiation with Ottawa that also targets federal statutes she blames for “chasing away private investment in our energy sector.”
In a statement, she said Alberta is working toward an agreement that would both remove, carve out or overhaul several of those laws and secure federal commitment to “ultimate approval” of a bitumen pipeline connecting the province to Asian markets, even though no specific route or proponent has been named publicly.
Smith framed the talks as time critical, saying they are “coming down to the wire” and that she expects an answer in the coming days on whether Carney’s government will back Alberta’s energy goals or continue to rely on laws and regulations implemented under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Carney, for his part, has emphasized process over deadlines, telling reporters there are still items to be ironed out “over the coming weeks” despite what he described as a productive “meeting of minds” with Smith.
Carney has also used the talks to outline expectations for Alberta’s side of any deal, saying he wants to see the province make the investments needed to put both Alberta and its oil and gas sector “in a position for the energy future.” He summed up Ottawa’s view with a line that also works as a test for prospective projects, arguing that “the future of energy, clean and conventional, is low risk, it’s low cost and it’s low carbon.”
BC Premier David Eby, whose province would host any west coast tidewater terminus, remains openly skeptical of Smith’s pipeline push and has turned that skepticism into a blunt fiscal warning. Eby said he is still frustrated that the Alberta pipeline is even on the table, arguing that “there is no route, there is no proponent, there is no project” and calling it “a figment of a communication person’s mind in Alberta,” before adding that if it ever proceeds it would only be because it is fully funded by taxpayers at a cost of $40 to $50 billion.
For now, none of the projects referred by Carney to the Major Projects Office has been formally designated as being in the national interest, which means no project, whether on the first list of five or the second list of seven, has yet qualified for the special treatment that could include exemptions from certain environmental laws to speed approvals.
Information for this story was found via BOE Report and the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
