Premier David Eby sent a strong message to his Alberta counterpart on Wednesday, reiterating that his government and First Nations will never support a pipeline to British Columbia.Premier Danielle Smith has repeatedly tried to convince her neighbours to the west to at least consider such a project, but her calls have largely fallen on deaf ears.."I'll point out what is obvious to me and what has yet to sink in for some individuals — there is no pipeline project across the north," Eby said during a press conference in Vancouver. "There is no route, there is no proponent, there is no financing."He added that "simply because the premier of Alberta would like to get rid of the oil tanker ban on the North Coast does not mean that anybody wants to build this pipeline.""It would cost $40 to $50 billion, it would require navigating a consensus at a provincial and Coastal First Nations level that has a different approach to growing our economy," the premier continued. "I'll be blunt. I don't see any prospect of a pipeline unless it is fully taxpayer-funded and the federal government forces it through over provincial and indigenous objections."He went on to argue that planning and building a new pipeline is not in anyone's best interest given that the existing TMX Pipeline is not operating at full capacity."How does that make any sense to anybody?" Eby asked. "It's really difficult to me to shadow-box with a non-existent project that has non-existent benefits because it will never be built and it's never gonna happen.".UPDATED: Alberta government slated to spend $14M in early planning for West Coast oil pipeline.On October 1, the Alberta government announced that it would be taking the lead as a proponent in developing a pipeline to BC and submitting a formal application for a project of national significance under the federal Building Canada Act."This project application is about more than a pipeline," Smith said. "It's about unlocking Canada's full economic potential.".After months of back and forth with Eby, she called him out, noting that as a coastal province, BC has "a special obligation to be generous in making sure that we're creating access into ports for all of our provinces."
