Can a conservative ever trust a liberal?<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because it\u2019s a Liberal government in Ottawa, and a Liberal prime minister, doesn\u2019t mean it has to be fractious,\u201d Alberta Premier Danielle Smith tells me. With mutual respect, she says, \u201cthe sky\u2019s the limit on what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith points to history: Alberta premier Ralph Klein, a Progressive Conservative at the time, and Liberal prime minister Jean Chr\u00e9tien worked together to unlock the oilsands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we can return to,\u201d Smith says, hopefully.<\/p>\n
She is in surprisingly good spirits when we meet for a face-to-face interview in her Calgary office at the McDougall Centre. At least for today. Just the day before, separatist firebrand Jeff Rath was vowing to replace her as leader of the United Conservative Party. The day before that, Mitch Sylvestre of Stay Free Alberta was threatening to organize a leadership review of Smith.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s mostly inside baseball for political junkies. The bigger question on many Albertans\u2019 minds is whether they can trust Prime Minister Mark Carney to deliver on a promised West Coast oil export pipeline. Smith has said publicly that she does. I want to know why.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main reason is the complete difference in dealing with this prime minister than the previous one,\u201d she says. Her first conversation with Justin Trudeau was intended to be constructive: an offer to collaborate on an energy and emissions plan with a 2050 target. Instead, for two and a half years, she reports, \u201cevery time I opened the newspaper, it was one new terrible policy after another designed to shut down Alberta\u2019s oil and gas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trust was impossible under Trudeau, especially with Steven Guilbeault as environment minister. \u201cI tried and tried and tried,\u201d Smith says. She sees Guilbeault\u2019s impending departure this summer as good for the country, but worries others like federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis will keep pushing to \u201ckeep fossil fuels in the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Wab Kinew and David Eby wanted to be helpful,\u201d she adds, \u201cmaybe they could call Avi Lewis and get him to dial it down, because it\u2019s politicians like that who I fear are going to continue to inflame the sentiments in Alberta.\u201d She\u2019s just finished hosting the Western Premiers\u2019 Conference in Kananaskis and I get the strong impression this message was delivered.<\/p>\n
With Carney, it\u2019s different. \u201cI saw a spirit of goodwill,\u201d she reports. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t interested in a compromise \u2014 he was interested in a win-win. That was the language he used in our first meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
When they announced the pipeline MOU implementation phase in mid-May, Carney called trust \u201cthe most important commodity in the world\u201d \u2014 something Canada has in abundance and is building today.<\/p>\n
Smith describes the MOU as \u201ca great accommodation of both desires \u2014 to develop our energy as well as to reduce emissions over a reasonable time frame.\u201d It\u2019s her proof point to Albertans that Canada can work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to a pipeline MOU in November 2025,\u201d she explains, \u201cthen we developed a number of different agreements.\u201d Alberta\u2019s premier and the prime minister ticked off the boxes: on methane; on Alberta\u2019s environmental process taking priority; and on carbon pricing. Next up: oilsands producers and the carbon capture commitment.<\/p>\n
Carney is also shifting Ottawa\u2019s direction on net-zero power regulations, greenwashing rules and the emissions cap. \u201cAnd the result is the chief architect of all of these terrible policies (Guilbeault) quit today,\u201d the premier notes.<\/p>\n
Some Albertans won\u2019t believe it until first oil flows, Smith acknowledges with a wry chuckle. Her milestones: the oil export pipeline declared a project of national interest by Oct. 1 and final conditions\/approvals by Sept. 1, 2027, enabling design and construction to begin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy, you don\u2019t agree on 100 per cent of things 100 per cent of the time,\u201d she reiterates. \u201cBut when you have a prime minister who is willing to work with us, that is how the country is supposed to work, and I think it is working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith faced sharp criticism for adding an independence question to the Oct. 19 referendum in Alberta. How can she back a West Coast pipeline while floating separation? critics ask. On the day we spoke, another grassroots group launched \u2014 Alberta\u2019s Voices \u2014 accusing her government of thinking Albertans are \u201cdumb.\u201d<\/p>\n
The October ballot now includes 10 questions: control over immigration, constitutional matters, and the new independence one \u2014 asking whether Alberta should remain a province of Canada or direct the government to begin the legal process for a binding separation referendum.<\/p>\n
Maybe they could call Avi Lewis and get him to dial it down, because it\u2019s politicians like that who I fear are going to continue to inflame the sentiments in Alberta<\/p>\n
At the Western Premiers\u2019 meeting, B.C.\u2019s Eby and Manitoba\u2019s Kinew pressed her on the duty to consult First Nations on the pipeline. Smith agrees on that point: \u201cOn a major project like a pipeline to the West Coast, absolutely, we have a duty to consult \u2014 and beyond that, we think we have a duty to provide equity ownership so the Nations can benefit from development. There\u2019s no dispute, for me, for proponents, on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she draws a firm line on the referendum: \u201cI have a right to ask our citizens whether we want to change our relationship with Ottawa. That\u2019s our right.\u201d She\u2019s honouring Alberta\u2019s Citizen Initiative Act after one separatist group gathered roughly 300,000 signatures and a pro-Canada group about 400,000. \u201cWhen you have 700,000 people say they want to have a conversation, you don\u2019t solve the problem by shutting the conversation down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alberta, she says, has a tradition of letting citizens decide big issues through referendums \u2014 prohibition, the Olympics, fluoride. \u201cIt\u2019s part of our culture and our laws. I ask for respect that we do things a little differently in Alberta.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hell hath no fury like Albertans scorned. It\u2019s significant that the 300,000 who signed a petition for a referendum on separation did so in the dead of winter. It\u2019s also been noted that the recent court decision quashing their petition seemed oblivious to the 400,000 who signed the Forever Canada petition during the summer and fall.<\/p>\n
Smith is also seeking a mandate on immigration: more like Quebec for economic migrants, and like the U.K. and Australia for guest workers who pay their own way. Under Section 95 of the Constitution, provinces have rights here and if the referendum delivers that mandate, she expects Carney to engage in good faith.<\/p>\n
Smith isn\u2019t naive about the trust-building ahead. Yet her optimism stands out. Earlier this week, I watched the debate between pro-Canada former premier Jason Kenney and separatist spokesperson Keith Wilson. It was a classic fear versus hope showdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that Albertans are going to be persuaded by fear,\u201d Smith says. She sees the West as Confederation\u2019s powerhouse and believes Ottawa is finally paying attention. Smith is squarely in the remain in Canada camp. The real obstacle, in her view, isn\u2019t fellow Canadians but \u201cmisguided politicians who decided to target Alberta\u201d and block its ability to create wealth. One of them \u2014 Guilbeault \u2014 just resigned.<\/p>\n
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