Show us the money — and pass the pipelines — please.
That was Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s message to Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday, warning him that he was elected on a mandate to make Canada an “economic superpower, and that means also an energy superpower.”
“And that is what I would fully expect Mark Carney to do,” she said in response to a reporter’s question. “I hope that he’s able to continue forward with an agenda that perhaps even the Conservative opposition would support him in.”
Smith’s comments came after Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet on Wednesday reiterated his opposition to oil and gas, despite the fact that energy is Canada’s leading export.
“There's no future for oil and gas, at least in Quebec and probably everywhere. And this has to be said and protected,” Blanchet said in his own comments directed at the incoming PM.
Blanchet threatened Carney with unspecified “weapons” and reminded him that he was elected thanks due to a wave of support in La Belle that saw the Liberals capture 44 seats in the province, up from 35 in 2021.
By contrast, Alberta elected just one Liberal, Corey Hogan in the riding of Calgary Confederation.
In his victory speech, Carney said his minority government would work toward uniting Canada, and specifically Quebec.
"We will ensure that Quebec will continue to prosper in a strong Canada," Carney said in French.
But Smith reminded Carney that he didn’t receive a mandate from an unabashedly separatist vote determined to do the opposite.
“The Canadian people did not vote for fringe voices like the Bloc Québécois, or fringe voices like the Green Party, or fringe voices like the NDP to control the agenda,” she said.
“That’s what I think the message of the election is and I would surely hope that he’s not listening to fringe voices from a party that is solely committed to breaking this country up.”
Despite campaigning on a promise to build so-called energy ‘corridors’ to facilitate the movement of all forms of energy, including oil and gas and LNG, Carney refused to commit to new pipelines and specifically ones to the east coast that — by definition — cross Quebec.
Presently, much of the oil and gas used in Ontario, the Maritimes and even in Quebec itself is reimported via the US.
And despite pledges to make Canada self-sufficient in commodities such as oil and gas, Carney’s past role as head of the UN’s net-zero banking campaign have cast doubt on his committment to making it a reality.
Smith said its incumbent on him to prove that he is governing for the entire country. She also said she would be in a better position to guage her reponse once she’s had an opportunity to meet personally with tthe PM and assess who will be appointing to his cabinet.
All eyes are on former environment attack dog Steven Guilbeault, for instance.
“I don't think Canadians know the answer to that yet, because, as I continue to point out, he said different things to different people, different parts of the province, our country, in different languages,” she said.
“So we won't really know until we see the decisions he's making for cabinet. We'll do a readout of that conversation, and I'll be able to tell you then.”
