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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is defending the province's decision to take an equity stake in a new pipeline project, arguing the private sector has been burned too many times by federal regulatory reversals to go it alone.

Asked why the project now requires government support, Smith pointed to a string of cancelled pipelines, including Northern Gateway, Keystone XL and Energy East, which she said companies had already sunk billions into before the projects collapsed.

Smith added that the federal government, Alberta, and British Columbia have made a "real commitment" to see the project through, and noted Ottawa has already collected more than a billion dollars in dividends from the Trans Mountain pipeline, calling the infrastructure "an incredibly lucrative type of infrastructure that will benefit taxpayers."

On Friday's Rebel Roundtable livestream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Drea Humphrey were joined by Ezra Levant to react to Smith's comments, questioning why Alberta would partner with the very governments responsible for killing past pipeline projects.

Sheila noted the irony of Smith listing off federally cancelled pipelines only to team up with Ottawa on the next one.

"Who's to say they aren't going to change the rules on their own project?" she asked. "At least the private sector company has shareholders to be accountable for. If the feds decide along the way to change the rules, and all of a sudden the pipeline doesn't go forward, what do they care?"

Ezra said the real test of the project's viability will be whether private companies choose to participate, pointing to South Bow — a separate, fully subscribed pipeline — as a sign of what genuine investor confidence looks like. He also raised concerns about Venezuela's growing oil production potentially undercutting Canada's opportunity in the heavy oil market.

"We might miss our moment," he said. "I just find this very sad as someone who grew up in Alberta. I always thought that industry was relentless, indefatigable, unlimited, and now I just see it's like Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels; it's being tied down by a 1000 little people with strings."

Ezra went on to criticize Smith for stepping back from talk of Alberta independence as a bargaining tool, replaying a years-old clip of Smith discussing the idea of an "or else" to pressure Ottawa, and suggesting she has since abandoned that leverage.

"To give away the 'or else' of independence while you're trying to negotiate something, I just don't get it," he said. "Makes me a little bit sad to look at that old clip there, because that's a fighting spirit."