Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has escalated her criticism of B.C. Premier David Eby, calling his opposition to Alberta’s energy exports “un-Canadian” and “unconstitutional.”Smith’s remarks at a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday came after Eby released a video in which he rejected what he described as a “fictional Alberta Bitumen Pipeline project,” saying it “makes no financial or economic sense.”Eby argued the proposal has “no private proponent, no route, no funding, and would cost taxpayers billions,” while jeopardizing “tens of billions of dollars worth of major projects” in British Columbia that are already underway..Many of those projects, he said, are “economically sound, private sector and First Nation-led, and will create many thousands of good-paying union jobs for families.”He also raised environmental concerns, warning that Alberta’s plan would put at risk “one of the world’s most precious and intact ecosystems, our beautiful B.C. coast and the Great Bear Rainforest.”Smith, in turn, dismissed those arguments as parochial obstruction. “The reason we have a country and have given trade and commerce power and control over ports and interprovincial infrastructure to the federal government is so that a parochial premier isn’t able to block nation-building projects,” she said.She added that Prime Minister Mark Carney has a constitutional obligation to ensure such projects proceed and said she was optimistic Ottawa would give the green light by mid-November..In a post on X, Smith accused Eby of threatening to block “Alberta’s most valuable asset from export off of Canada’s northwest coast,” calling it intolerable.“There is no universe where Alberta will tolerate being landlocked in our own country by our neighbouring province,” she wrote, adding that the same energy industry B.C. criticizes has generated wealth for both the province and the country.She argued that pipelines and modern oil tankers are safe and that the economic benefits far outweigh the risks, estimating that a pipeline capable of moving one million barrels per day could generate $20 billion annually for the Canadian economy, with roughly 40% flowing back to governments..Eby, however, framed the Alberta proposal as political gamesmanship. He said the so-called pipeline is “an entirely political creation in the lead-up to their election, for wedge politics at the expense of British Columbia and Canada’s economy,” and warned that it would put both coastal industries and B.C.’s long-term economic opportunities in jeopardy.Smith countered by insisting that Canada’s credibility as a functioning federation is at stake if provinces are allowed to obstruct one another’s industries. She also claimed Carney had committed privately to moving forward on a pipeline deal and other energy initiatives by the Grey Cup in November. “The time for talking is over. It’s time to act,” she said, calling anything less “unacceptable to the people of Alberta.”
