CALGARY — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government says it expects to secure indigenous backing for a proposed oil pipeline to the BC coast when its plan is formally unveiled in June.Speaking to Bloomberg, Energy Minister Brian Jean said the conversations he’s been having with First Nations have been “very positive,” adding that the most vocal critics of the project don’t necessarily reflect the views of entire indigenous communities.Last November, Smith signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on energy with Prime Minister Mark Carney, which included a proposal for a new pipeline from Alberta to the BC coast in the hopes of shipping Alberta crude to Asian markets.While the UCP government has previously said the long-term goal is to have a private-sector proponent build and operate the pipeline, the government is currently developing the project itself.Jean said Alberta is advancing both indigenous consultations and environmental plans ahead of submitting the application to the Major Projects Office for review..Energy leaders warn Canada still not competitive despite Carney–Smith pipeline MOU.“We’re making sure that those parts of the agreement or negotiations are well underway, if not completed,” Jean said.When asked if he expects to have indigenous support for the plan, the minister stated, “Yes, I do.”As for which prospective route a pipeline could take to the coast, Jean argued a northern BC route is more practical than a southern one toward Vancouver, adding that following the same corridor as the Trans Mountain pipeline would be costly and difficult.“We need a pipeline to go down a new route that will benefit the people along those routes,” he said.“The opportunities in the north are not just significant from our perspective, they’re significant for the people that live there.”Smith has previously announced her government is assessing three possible routes in northern BC, with one of those terminating in Prince Rupert and two others farther up the coast..Poll finds 75% of Canadians back new pipelines to East Coast and BC .The MOU had a deadline of April 1 for Alberta and Ottawa to agree on an industrial carbon tax that would rise to a cost of $130 per metric tonne, but as of this week, both sides are still in discussions, with sources recently telling Reuters a deal was close on that subject, but other broader parts of the MOU — industry support for the $16.5 billion Pathways carbon capture project and a workable emissions plan for the oil sands — were still up in the air.The prolonged talks come as the negotiations have dragged on for months and at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump approved Bridger Pipeline LLC’s proposed project to transport Canadian crude from the US-Canada border to Wyoming on Thursday — a project that will use parts of the Keystone XL route in Alberta — raising questions about red tape and regulatory restrictions in Canada.“I’ve felt we were close for a month,” Jean said.“There are almost daily conversations now going on about the price on carbon and how we get to what we need to do and still make sure we’re competitive.“If we’re not competitive, we will be letting the rest of the world pollute while we have the best technologies and the best people to do what we need to do to reduce it, and we can’t do that because nobody’s going to invest in it.”
