Politicians will be politicians.
Liberal leader Mark Carney can say whatever he wants — presumably to get elected — but Bill C-69 must go if Canada has any hope of removing interprovincial trade barriers and securing domestic markets from the threat of US tariffs.
And Liberal leader Mark Carney knows it, regardless of what he says in public.
That was the assessment of Calgary Chamber of Commerce President Deborah Yedlin, who insisted ‘if you can’t move it, you can’t sell it’. And that means pipelines in all directions, including east and west.
“We're in an election campaign. I can't comment on what he's what, what else he's going to do, right? But I think that the message is loud and clear, we have to take control of our own economic agenda,” Yedlin said in Calgary on Thursday.
“We have to get out of our own way, and that means being able to build pipeline infrastructure and other trade infrastructure to make sure that we can access markets outside of our reliance on the United States.”
Carney has come under fire out West for saying one thing in private meetings with premiers and other government officials and saying another on the campaign trail.
On Tuesday he was adamant that Bill C-69 — the ‘no more pipelines act’ — wouldn’t be repealed even as he was telling the First Ministers that a Liberal government would remove interprovincial trade barriers to build critical infrastructure, including trans-national pipelines.
When asked, Carney how he plans to maintain Bill C-69 while simultaneously building infrastructure in Canada, Carney replied, “We do not plan to repeal Bill C-69.”
“What we have said, formally at a First Ministers meeting, is that we will move for projects of national interest, to remove duplication in terms of environmental assessments and other approvals, and we will follow the principle of ‘one project, one approval,’ to move forward from that.”
The irony is that many of those same premiers, including Alberta’s Danielle Smith, on Thursday said they were encouraged by Carney’s comments — at least in private — and are already looking forward to negotiations with the US once the election is over.
Smith said during a panel discussion at a Chamber event in Calgary that she is hopeful that a renegotiation of the Canada-US trade agreement would be “very positive” and said Carney helped create a sense of unity on his call Thursday.
“The prime minister did say today that the focus is on infrastructure, and it's on building things, building fast, and building things that we didn't think we could build,” Yedlin said.
“So my mind that includes pipelines, and then my mind that means getting getting out of our own way in order to do that.”
“I think the premier (Smith) did say she had a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Carney and the other premiers this morning. And I think the way it's being handled is giving her some comfort in terms of how the approach is being taken. It's measured, it's well thought out, and it is meant to show that we're not going to take whatever's being dished out to us.”
The irony is that many — including Smith — are already talking like Carney will be that point man in negotiations with Trump after April 28.
When asked if Trump’s ‘declaration of independence’ meant it was time for Canadians to circle the wagons and rally around the PM, Yedlin refused to commit to any candidate or platform in the ongoing federal election.
“I am not partisan I can't comment on that, not anything political… you know that, Shaun.”