FLETCHER: Eby finds his inner Albertan as economic chill sets in

Tom Fletcher grew up in the Peace River region and has covered B.C. politics and business as a journalist since 1984Since his NDP government’s near-death election experience last October, B.C. Premier David Eby has accelerated a remarkable transformation from left-wing urban activist to hard-nosed westerner.First it was Eby's offhand remark during the fall election campaign that he’d end B.C.’s pioneering carbon tax if Ottawa allowed it. Then came orders to new ministers on reducing costs as B.C.’s deficit soars to nearly $10 billion. The latest signal came after Canada’s premiers huddled last week to come up with defensive plays as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared for a promised tariff blitz against his northern and southern neighbours.National media focused on Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s refusal to sign on to retaliatory restrictions on Canada’s biggest U.S. export, oil and gas that comes primarily from her province. While appearing to stand in solidarity with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s vow that all options must be on the table in “economic wartime,” Eby offered some encouragement to Smith.“I just know that as a Canadian and as a British Columbian that I’m going to stand strong with premiers and make sure that we’re not limiting the tools available to the federal government to respond to this, to make sure that the tariffs are as short as possible if they are imposed, that we’re protecting jobs here,” Eby said in a video posted on X after the premiers’ meeting.“And the key message that I had that I think is entirely consistent with what Premier Smith was raising, is that it needs to be regionally proportionate. And if there are tariffs that are impacting B.C., then they need to be similarly impacting other provinces across the country. We can’t be turning to B.C. and Alberta to carry all the weight of the retaliation against the United States. It’s a shared responsibility.”Targeting petroleum exports would, of course, not be regionally proportionate. It would continue Trudeau’s record of singling out Western Canada’s primary industry for restriction as part of his misguided program to somehow alter the planet’s weather.Indeed, Eby has finally discovered that B.C. produces oil as well as natural gas, not to mention the valuable light liquids that come up with gas from the Montney shale formation that extends from northeastern B.C. into Alberta. Continuing the previous government’s commitment to attend an annual natural resources forum in Prince George last week, Eby and his new energy minister Adrian Dix toured one of the two small refineries that still operate in B.C.It’s a big shift from the NDP government that not long ago battled Rachel Notley over the twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which is finally finished and already near capacity. Notley retaliated by briefly banning B.C. wine, as a way of getting through to the urban-focused West Coast wing of her own party.Some of that additional oil sands crude has been shipped to Asia, but much of Trans Mountain’s output continues to head south, to Washington on a now 70-year-old branch line, and by tanker to heavy oil refineries in California and the Gulf Coast.It’s noteworthy that Notley has been named to Trudeau’s new Canada-U.S. council to face incoming U.S. President Donald Trump in a promised showdown over what he wrongly believes is a huge trade subsidy paid to Canada.If anything the “subsidy” goes the other way, with Canada selling most of its oil and gas to the U.S. at a discount sustained by a historical lack of alternative export customers.Former Trump national security advisor John Bolton has said recently that Trump wouldn’t be shaken from his belief that tariff revenues would flow to the U.S. government. Trump has now shifted to threatening a border tax, to be collected by an “External Revenue Service” as early as February.Tom Fletcher grew up in the Peace River region and has covered B.C. politics and business as a journalist since 1984. tomfletcherbc@gmail.com X: @tomfletcherbc

FLETCHER: Eby finds his inner Albertan as economic chill sets in

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