Premier Danielle Smith is calling for Prime Minster Mark Carney to “reset the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta” after Monday’s federal election.
Global News has projected the Liberals will form a minority government, though the total seat count is not yet known as some ridings still have votes to be counted.
“I congratulate Prime Minister Mark Carney on his minority government election victory last night,” Smith said in a statement issued Tuesday morning, adding that she believes a “large majority of Albertans are deeply frustrated” by the results.
She accused the federal Liberal government of having “overtly attacked” Alberta’s economy over the past 10 years while Justin Trudeau was prime minister.
Smith has been a vocal critic of Liberal environmental policies she says have limited the oil and gas sector’s ability to benefit the economy.
She met with Carney, who was raised in Alberta, before the election campaign and said she gave him a list of demands she wanted him to address within his first six months as prime minister should he win the election. She said if he did not address the issues, Canada could face “an unprecedented national unity crisis.”
Smith said her demands include ensuring cross-country access to build pipelines, an end to the proposed greenhouse gas emissions cap and a repeal of Bill C-69.
“As premier, I will not permit the status quo to continue,” she said on Tuesday. “Albertans are proud Canadians that want this nation to be strong, prosperous, and united, but we will no longer tolerate having our industries threatened and our resources landlocked by Ottawa.
“In the weeks and months ahead, Albertans will have an opportunity to discuss our province’s future, assess various options for strengthening and protecting our province against future hostile acts from Ottawa, and to ultimately choose a path forward. …
“Our government will be holding a special caucus meeting this Friday to discuss this matter further. I will have more to say after that meeting is concluded.”
Under Trudeau’s leadership, the Liberals were able to get the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project completed, and since then Canada has seen record production of crude oil.
While the Trudeau government was in power, the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline was also completed.
At an unrelated news conference on Tuesday, Smith was asked about her comments regarding resetting Alberta’s relationship with Ottawa.
“With the construction of Trans Mountain and the Coastal GasLink, that has changed a lot for our province, which says to me we need a lot more of it,” she said, adding that she believes there are currently nine pieces of federal legislation or policy that prevent Alberta “from being able to exercise our constitutional jurisdiction to develop our resources.”
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“If it is the case that there’s consensus now about getting our energy to market, getting our resources to market, finding new markets — these are kind of the baseline to reset the relationship with Alberta.
“I think that over 300 MPs got elected because they stood on a platform to get our resources developed, to work with provinces to establish economic corridors and to get our products to market.
“I think the NDP got crushed, the Greens got crushed and the Bloc Québécois lost ground because they were opposed to that agenda. And so I would hope that the current prime minister understands that his mandate comes from moderate voters who actually want this province to be a genuine energy superpower, and the country to be a genuine energy superpower.”
Carney has voiced support for a number of environmental policies aimed at fighting climate change, but during this election campaign’s French language debate, he said he has been working with premiers on developing a national energy corridor and noted that the “geography” of current pipelines “is a national security problem” for Canada given the country’s changing relationship with the United States.
“We have to act,” Carney said in the debate on April 16.
Naheed Nenshi, the leader of the Alberta NDP, also issued a statement on Tuesday to congratulate Carney on his victory and to say Canada needs a “federal government that understands the economic and social significance of Alberta.”
“This means getting national projects built, like Alberta’s New Democrats did when we were in power,” his statement read in part. “It means regulations that support Alberta industry and jobs, while continuing to fight climate change meaningfully.”
Nenshi said he wants the provincial government and Ottawa to “set aside the divisive battles and come together to serve Canada in a time when the nation is under existential threat.”
“For Alberta, this means working together with the new federal government to make deals that benefit Albertans,” he said.
Smith said that in her conversations so far with Carney since he first became prime minister, she is hopeful about the relationship going forward but she wants to see him deliver when it comes to helping Alberta’s oil and gas sector thrive.
“He’s given the impression, certainly in the interactions he’s had with me, … that he is open to establishing economic corridors that include pipelines,” she said. “And I have to believe that if you’re intending to create more markets and build more pipelines you will need to have oil and gas to fill them.”
Lori Williams, an associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University, said she believes Carney will need to build bridges with Alberta lawmakers by reaching out to political leaders in the province “to address that sense of Albertans not being fully heard, not feeling treated fairly.”
“That would have been a challenge regardless of the outcome of the election,” she said. “Minority or majority, Mark Carney is still going to have to deal with some of those challenges of western alienation. The good news for him is that he’s got a higher percentage — significantly higher percentage — of the vote than the Liberals did last time around … and he’s got representation in every province.
“So he’s got a foundation to build from, but huge challenges ahead. And I think he’s going to be reaching out for partners and trying to deal with the challenges ahead from across the country.”
Williams said she believes Carney will need to look at why Albertans see some policies as targeting them. One example she gave was the federal emissions cap, which could be perceived as singling out a province whose economy relies heavily on oil and gas.
“That balance between energy and the environment is something he spoke about during the campaign,” Williams said of Carney.
When asked about western alienation in Alberta and how some Albertans are expressing interest in possibly separating from Canada, Smith explained what she believes is driving such feelings.
“I think Albertans are hurt and betrayed,” she said. “I think Canada as a whole got a sense of that feeling of hurt and betrayal with the way the Americans treat us right now. But we’ve been treated that way for the last 10 years — treated like our interest don’t matter, like our economic imperatives aren’t important, treated like we should just shut up and be satisfied with whatever the central government decides to do, regardless of whether it’s constitutional or not.
“(I would) like to see Team Canada be on Team Alberta for once.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the Republican Party of Alberta announced that Cameron Davies, a longtime behind-the-scenes member of Alberta’s conservative community, will be its new leader.
Davies, who announced last week that he was parting ways with Smith’s United Conservative Party because he believes it has become “bloated, dishonest and corrupted by entitlement,” posted to social media on Tuesday that “today is the birthday of many new separatists in Alberta.”
“It is an honour to lead the movement towards Alberta independence,” he said, after being named president of the party, which is listed as a registered political party on Elections Alberta’s website.
Williams suggested she believes that getting involved in fights with the federal government is “a tool” that Smith uses sometimes “to detract from some of the other issues she’s facing within the province.”
Williams added that in the federal election campaign that just wrapped up, she believes the Liberals and Conservatives actually had “a fair bit in common,” so she will be watching to see how Smith’s relationship with Carney plays out.
In her statement Tuesday, Smith said she believes the federal Liberals and NDP have “demeaned and demonized Albertans” and thanked federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for advocating against Liberal policies.
“Mr. Poilievre made empowering Albertans and our energy sector a cornerstone of his campaign,” she said. “His respect and admiration for Albertans could not have been clearer. He is and continues to be a true friend of Alberta.”
Despite his Conservatives gaining ridings from both the Liberals and the NDP to form the largest official opposition in Canadian history, Poilievre is projected to lose his Ottawa riding of Carleton, after facing stiff competition for a seat he had held for 20 years.
Smith said she believes Poilievre should stay on as leader of the federal Conservatives and that she has told him that. She suggested Poilievre should try to find another riding where he could win.
“He just didn’t spend as much time in his home riding to secure the win … but I don’t see any reason he shouldn’t stay on.”
–with files from The Canadian Press’ Sarah Ritchie
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