Alberta backs bill to repeal BC’s tanker ban

Premier Danielle Smith's government says it supports a private member’s bill to repeal the federal Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, citing the discount Canadian oil sells at because it can’t reach global markets.

Alberta wants the federal tanker ban gone, and Sheila Gunn Reid says B.C.'s election result just made that easier.

On Monday's Rebel Roundup, Sheila read a statement from the Alberta government calling for an end to the oil tanker ban on B.C.'s north coast. “Alberta supports private member's bill C-264 to repeal the federal oil tanker moratorium act and remove barriers preventing our responsibly produced energy from reaching global markets,” the statement said.

The statement also pointed to the price discount Canadian producers take because they lack open access to international markets, Sheila added. Without it, “our price is largely set by the Americans.”

She said a “new day is dawning” in co-operation between the Western provinces on energy infrastructure, because “B.C.'s obstructionist policies will end” with Lorne Doerkson. In his election-night speech, she noted, the incoming Conservative premier talked about mining, doubling gas production, milling, fishing and farming, “fully embracing the resource economy.”

Northeastern B.C., she added, “acts as an extension of the city of Grande Prairie, Alberta,” with the Peace region gas field sitting on the border.

Sheila said she expects a statement of support from Doerkson soon, given that he “campaigned on resource development.”

David Menzies asked whether the news is good for Mark Carney's stated goal of building energy infrastructure.

Sheila said the prime minister gave British Columbia a veto over a pipeline, and called it his “poison pill.” Carney could say he wanted Alberta's oil to reach tidewater, she explained, while handing a veto to B.C. and to what she called activist organizations that don't speak for First Nations people.

With David Eby's NDP out and Doerkson's Conservatives in, she argued, the provincial veto is gone. “Carney might have thought he was too cute by half and painted himself into a corner here,” Sheila said.

David said his takeaway was that Carney was setting somebody else up to be the heavy while secretly agreeing with the veto. “Yeah, exactly,” Sheila replied.

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