British Columbia Energy Minister Adrian Dix has labelled Alberta's push for a new pipeline "divisive," claiming that the discussion is "not helping our country."His comments come as Premier Danielle Smith continues to try and convince her neighbour to the west that a pipeline — be it public or private — is in Canada's best interest.."Why would we build a [new] pipeline when we're not maximizing what we just did?" Dix asked during an event hosted by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade on Thursday. "Why would we build and spend tens of billions of dollars in public subsidies — we do not need a social enterprise in oil and gas."He went on to argue that treating the approval of a new pipeline as an existential issue was "divisive.""It's divisive in our country, to talk about these projects," Dix said, "to say, 'oh, our role in confederation is at stake if the federal government doesn't provide tens of billions of dollars in subsidies that are not needed."He also claimed such a move would "negatively effect other projects" and "undermine" the current position on natural gas, which he described as "extraordinary for Alberta and BC.".Dix argued there was "no economic case" for the construction of a new pipeline, noting that existing ones are not operating at full capacity.."TMX has an optimization project that could add 245,000 barrels for under $4 billion," he explained. "There's a big role for BC Hydro in that, should they choose to do it; it would have some advantages for mining in the province as well.".Smith recently expressed optimism that there will soon be private-sector projects in the works. When asked whether he'd put a pipeline back on the table in that case, Dix noted that his government's plan was to "talk about real projects.".Eby says he's open to a new pipeline — just doesn't want to pay for it.Smith and BC Premier David Eby have gone back and forth on the issue as of late, with the latter making it clear that he wants to see federal or provincial dollars go towards existing projects.""It's a simplification and not quite right to say that I've said 'no'," Eby said when questioned by the CBC's Rosemary Barton. "We've supported Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan with a great corridor from Manitoba right through to Prince Rupert — it could include energy projects, it could potentially include a heavy oil pipeline project."He pointed out, however, that pipeline that empties into BC already exists, and that perhaps working to utilize its "significant additional capacity" was a better idea than starting from scratch.
