Premier David Eby pushed back against Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s comments that his dismissal of a new west coast pipeline project is “un-Canadian.”
Smith spoke to reporters in Ottawa Tuesday, a day after meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.
It’s the latest in the verbal sparring match between the premiers as Smith’s pipeline dream gains some momentum.
Smith wants a pipeline carrying Alberta bitumen to the Port of Prince Rupert on B.C.’s north coast.
Eby has repeatedly dismissed Smith’s pipeline dream as being fictional, and a distraction from the many shovel-ready projects B.C. has to offer.
He has also maintained that repealing the federal ban on oil tankers on B.C.’s north coast would be a non-starter.
He reiterated Tuesday the proposed project would threaten the “fragile consensus” with First Nations and coastal communities around other resource projects.
“These projects pay for equalization for other provinces. These projects provide employment for people from other provinces who go home and pay their income tax in other provinces. These projects that we are advancing will pay royalties that support the federal government program of meeting our NATO commitments,” said Eby.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has said he would back a potential oil pipeline project, saying no province should have the ability to veto a project that would benefit all of Canada.
“There is no B.C. coast. It’s Canada’s coast. There is no B.C. ports. There are Canada’s ports,” Moe told reporters on Friday.
B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad echoed that idea on Tuesday.
“We need a government who is going to embrace projects that are not just for British Columbia, but nation-building,” Rustad said. “Our ports are here not just for British Columbia, they’re here for our whole country.”
Smith announced on Oct. 1 her government will submit a formal application to the federal Major Projects Office to fast-track a new pipeline project. She said Tuesday she remains hopeful the federal government will take steps forward as soon as mid-November.
Marilyn Slett, President of Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative, and elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, issued a statement that same day condemning the proposal.
“Premier Smith’s continued talk of oil pipelines and tankers, and the risk of a catastrophic oil spill in BC’s coastal waters, is not nation-building. In fact, it risks the goodwill and support of First Nations for more realistic and economically valuable nation-building projects in BC and beyond,” said Slett.
