Former NDP MP Charlie Angus says Alberta heavy crude has served the U.S. economy “super well” and Canada should respond to American threats by building another pipeline to send Alberta oil elsewhere.

In an interview promoted by MeidasTouch, Angus praised Alberta heavy crude for supplying American refineries and warned the Trump administration that Canada could build “another pipeline” and send that oil to other markets.

That sounds remarkably bullish on Alberta oil and pipelines. But it bears little resemblance to the position Angus and the federal NDP took when Alberta was actually fighting to get pipelines built.

As the NDP's natural resources critic in 2022, Angus attacked the Trans Mountain expansion and said Ottawa “should never have gone ahead with the project.” He and fellow NDP critic Laurel Collins argued the money should instead have been directed toward renewable energy.

The federal NDP officially opposed both Ottawa's purchase of Trans Mountain and its expansion, arguing increased oil production and tanker traffic were incompatible with Canada's climate targets.

Angus was still criticizing TMX in 2024. A Canada Energy Regulator briefing summarizing his position before a parliamentary committee says Angus argued the project lacked a viable business case, caused environmental harm and conflicted with Canada's emissions targets.

And this isn't merely ancient NDP history.

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In May 2026, federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis condemned an Alberta-Ottawa energy agreement for “locking us into more pipelines, more fossil fuel dependence.”

In July, Lewis said the federal NDP “unequivocally oppose[s]” Alberta's proposed new West Coast oil pipeline.

And just days ago, when Ottawa designated a West Coast oil pipeline as a project of national interest, Lewis again attacked it, saying public money should instead go toward renewable energy, transit and housing. 

The federal party's current policy also calls for ending fossil-fuel subsidies, imposing an oil-and-gas emissions cap and maintaining the North Coast tanker ban, all measures that constrain expansion of Alberta's petroleum sector.

Charlie Angus may have discovered the strategic value of Alberta oil when confronting Donald Trump and Western independence. But the federal NDP hasn't discovered a newfound love for Alberta petroleum. They have discovered a new level of insincerity. 

When Alberta wanted more pipeline capacity, Angus opposed TMX. Today, the federal NDP still opposes the proposed new West Coast pipeline that could do exactly what Angus now suggests: move Alberta oil to customers beyond the United States.

The rhetoric has changed. The federal NDP's pipeline policy largely hasn't.