Premier Danielle Smith expressed cautious optimism about Alberta’s future pipeline plans, in light of the unveiling of the 2025 federal budget on Tuesday.Speaking at a press conference in Calgary on Friday, Smith said she is working with the federal government to develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would enable Alberta to expand bitumen pipelines to Asian markets and advance the Pathways Plus project, while addressing what she described as “bad laws” that currently hinder investment.“There's a lot of spending in the [federal] budget, and I've read different accounts of it,” Smith said.“There are some who say that if it is all spent on productivity improvements, then I think that's what we're trying to propose.”Despite the 2025 budget not containing a single mention of updates regarding major pipeline projects such as the Trans Mountain Expansion or Keystone XL, Prime Minister Mark Carney told an audience at a Canadian Club Toronto address on Friday not worry because “we’re on the pipeline stuff." "Danielle's on line one. Don't worry, it's gonna happen — well, something's gonna happen," Carney stated. Smith told the media Friday that many governments around the country are currently “in dire straits, maybe the federal government more so than any of us, but we're running a deficit this year too.”.Energy minister says Smith and Eby need to cooperate for pipeline to go through."I don't think there's a single province that's running a surplus, and that should tell us something — that we have increasing demands on social services, and revenue isn't keeping up because we’re chasing private sector investment away.”Smith reiterated she hopes her government will reach a conclusion on the the MOU by the time of the Grey Cup in Winnipeg on Nov. 16 and also stressed the province’s goal to double oil and gas production and grow output to 8 million barrels per day by 2035.Smith pointed to international forecasts from OPEC showing global oil demand increasing from about 104 million barrels per day to 120–123 million barrels per day.“There has been a sea change in the conversation about oil and gas development that I think began a couple of years ago,” she said.Smith framed Alberta’s energy strategy as part of a broader effort to provide “reliable and affordable energy” to the world, hoping to raise living standards and position oil and gas as a “foundation fuel” amid the ongoing energy transition.“Canada needs to catch up, because I think that there has been an understanding that we've got to make sure that people are taken care of, as well as dealing with emissions on a longer time horizon,” Smith stated.“I want Alberta to have a greater share of that growing market. It's good for our allies, to be able to rely on a dependable partner... I have a lot of optimism that we'll be able to build pipelines in virtually any direction.”
