Eby slams Alberta for 'bad behaviour' in response to pipeline deal

VANCOUVER — Premier David Eby has offered a curmudgeonly and largely irrelevant response to the bilateral Alberta-Ottawa deal, decrying what he sees as rewarding the Alberta independence movement.In a statement released Friday, Eby said: “As a country, it’s time to stop rewarding bad behaviour. It cannot be the case that the projects that get prioritized in Canada are those where a Premier threatens to leave the country.”Clearly, as admitted by the premier during a mid-week press conference, British Columbia had been left on the sidelines as Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith struck a bilateral deal Friday that fast-tracks a major new oil pipeline across the province in exchange for relief on Alberta’s industrial carbon price..The agreement, announced in Calgary, sets Alberta’s industrial carbon levy at $95 per tonne for the rest of 2026, rising to $100 per tonne from 2027 to 2030 and $130 per tonne by 2035. Federal officials say the changes will save the province’s energy sector an estimated $250 billion in compliance costs through 2050.In return, Ottawa has pledged to expedite approvals for a proposed one-million-barrel-per-day bitumen pipeline to B.C.’s northwest coast. Alberta will act as the initial proponent, with a formal proposal due by July 1 and a target construction start as early as September 2027.In a statement released Friday, Eby said: “As a country, it’s time to stop rewarding bad behaviour. It cannot be the case that the projects that get prioritized in Canada are those where a Premier threatens to leave the country.”The statement was shared on X by radio host and former BC Liberal MLA Jas Johal..The deal was reached with little or no direct input from the BC NDP government and builds on a November 2025 memorandum of understanding between Ottawa and Alberta that identified an Indigenous co-owned west-coast pipeline as a project of national interest.The proposed pipeline aims to ship low-emission Alberta bitumen to Asian markets. Alberta officials project it would create thousands of construction jobs and generate billions in royalties and taxes.

Eby slams Alberta for 'bad behaviour' in response to pipeline deal

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