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It has been a busy week since Mark Carney was elected Liberal Party leader and formed a government. Danielle Smith has used Carney’s recent and rapid rise as Liberal leader to set out conditions (see below) for either the new Liberal PM or a future CPC leader, Pierre Poilievre to meet. All of these demands are rooted in the goals of the oil and gas industry or the Take-Back-Alberta activists now controlling the United Conservative Party.
Last week I canvassed Smith’s fusillade at newly sworn in PM Carney of 14 March. This past week she has continued her campaign to force federal political leaders to come on board to in effect pledge support to her climate denial platform. On 19 March 2025 Smith and Energy minister Brian Jean officially endorsed the “Build Canada Now” letter signed by CEOs of the 14 oil and gas and energy pipelines companies.
This letter is premised on the claim of “increasing public support to urgently grow our energy sector and build energy infrastructure, including new oil and natural gas pipelines and LNG terminals, to expand Canada’s energy exports.” The signers also believe that “abundant energy” is a way to defend Canada’s sovereignty. The letter recommends a self-interested plan to increase profits under the guise of a trade war, or this was what Jonathan Wilkinson, the federal Natural Resourced minister believed.
The letter suggested five ideas, hardly new requests of Ottawa by the oilpatch:
- Simplify regulation including the repeal of the “anti-pipelines law” and the “tanker ban on B.C.’s coast to ensure “decisions need to withstand judicial challenges;”
- Commit to firm deadlines for project approvals;
- Grow production though no targets were set;
- Attract investment by allowing provincial governments (e.g. oil friendly Alberta government) to “set more suitable carbon regulations;” and
- Incent Indigenous co-investment opportunities.
Smith and Jean’s support for the letter included: 1) standard attacks against the decade-long “Liberal-NDP government;” 2) gratuitous praise for the letter- “these industry leaders have captured this spirit perfectly in their letter to the federal party leaders;” and 3) an appeal to patriotism – “To leave this treasured resource in the ground would be an outright betrayal of current and future generations of Canadians. And yet, that has been the mantra of the Liberal-NDP government for the last decade” (emphasis added).
Smith’s assault on the federal Liberal government continued that day with another reminder to the federal government that Alberta will defend itself against “federal overreach.” This message accompanied the announcement of amendments to the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act where the definition of critical infrastructure will be expanded. Essential or critical infrastructure will now include “facilities where oil and gas production and emission data and records are held, as well as the two-kilometre-deep border zone north of the Alberta-United States border.” Note this is the Alberta- U.S. border not the Canada (Alberta)-U.S. border.
Particularly aggressive barbs at the federal (Liberal-NDP) government include
We will not tolerate the continuous and unconstitutional overreaches made by the federal government. Alberta will continue its pursuit of doubling our oil and gas production to meet the growing global demand for energy and we will not let Ottawa stand in the way of our province’s future prosperity.
Environment minister Rebecca Schulz repeated the lie of a production cap, noting “(W)e will never let the federal Liberal government sacrifice Alberta’s prosperity for their extreme ideological agenda.” Rounding our the rationale was the public safety and fentanyl interventions with Deputy Premier Mike Ellis (also Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services) with the key takeaway being “Let this be a message to all potential traffickers, especially those who traffic deadly fentanyl, that Alberta’s southern border is secure.” I will leave it to constitutional scholars to weight on the unconstitutionality of this legislation.
But there was more to come. On 21 March Smith demanded that Mark Carney must “clearly state his position on the federal emissions cap.” Note here the cap was properly referred to as an emissions cap. This demand emerged after details the new federal Environment minister Terry Duguid “plans to keep the emissions cap in place.”
According to Smith’s interpretation of her conversation with the Prime Minister, Carney said he was not in favour of “hard caps.” Worked into the release was the staggering claim- “Now they are doing it when Canadians are literally demanding that we build new pipelines and production to become more independent from the United States.” She concluded that she needed on behalf of Canadian and Albertans (I thought Albertans were Canadians.)
“The Prime Minister’s words sounded kind of nice yesterday – until I found out that his new environment minister had just told media on the other side of the country that the federal Liberals would be keeping the emissions cap in place.
The word contemptuous may not be an exaggeration for Smith’s continuing attacks:
….the same story for the last 10 years. Liberals come to Alberta – smile for the cameras – tell everyone how much they are going to work with Alberta and support the energy sector. Then they leave, go home, and proceed to do everything in their power to roadblock and scare away investment from the energy sector.
Albertans and Canadians want the answer before they go to the polls – not after. In fact, we want the answer today. Who wasn’t telling the truth yesterday – the Prime Minister or his environment minister? We all deserve to know.
Update
The assault continued on Monday morning with the release of yet another barrage against the federal government with the release of a report by the Conference Board of Canada commissioned by the Alberta government. The 112 page report was delivered to the Alberta government on 31 January 2025. The report claims Alberta will be disproportionately impacted by the current federal plan with
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GDP: Projected to be 11 per cent lower
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Employment: Projected to be 4.1 per cent lower
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Government revenues: Projected to be 9.3 per cent lower
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Real (price adjusted) incomes: Down $3,300 (or 7.3 per cent) per person
Rebecca Schulz served as Alberta’s point person, not the Energy minister. In her trademark style she waded into the federal general election.
These findings should send a message to whoever ends up being the next federal government. Our province remains firmly committed to protecting the environment and creating a future for our children, but that can’t be achieved by trampling on Canadians’ livelihoods. Ottawa has offered nothing but penalties and vague rhetoric. Instead of meaningful incentives to reduce emissions, we get carbon taxes, a production cap, and layers and layers of costly regulations, all burdening families and workers who are already stretched thin.
But why did the provincial government, which sat on the report for nearly two months, decide to release the report now?
Opinion
It should not come as a surprise that Smith would attack a newly minted Prime Minister while pledging fealty to Big Oil and playing to be Take-Back Alberta with her tough talking and insults. The above expressions of enmity have been going on ever since the UCP were re-elected in 2023. However, in the past two weeks her pronouncements have seemed meaner especially at a time when Canadian governments should be united for the good of the country.
There is little doubt that these attacks are a deliberate attempt to deflect from the growing AHS scandal. Recently the Globe and Mail reported the AHS board was fired as it prepared to sit down for a briefing by law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and and PwC Canada. This is a story that will not go away for Smith as the whiff of scandal reminds one of the scandal when Kenney and his top political lieutenants enjoyed a brew and Irish whiskey on a patio during COVID. The statements of defence accusing Mentzelopoulos of incompetence is a rather lame and unoriginal defence and stretches credulity.
Indeed in a remarkable departure from the tradition of bureaucratic neutrality, the deputy minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Evan Romanov issued a press release disputing Mentzelopoulos’s account of their conversation on 2 January 2025. This is an extraordinary intervention because the issue is before the court and normally government officials, elected and unelected use the phrase “before the courts” to avoid saying anything. . It seems all hands are on deck to attack Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s credibility which should raise eyebrows. Romanov alleges that the AHS CEO had taken his comments “entirely out of context, as though I was in agreement with or confirming portions of these concerns and allegations. This is entirely inappropriate, untrue, and I find her willingness to distort my conversation with her to be hurtful and disheartening given our histories as trusted colleagues.”
From the Statement of Claim this is Mentzelopoulos’s version-
On January 2, 2025, Mentzelopoulos spoke with the Deputy Minister of Mental Health and Addictions who told her that his Minister, the Honourable Dan Williams, was “very concerned” about the AHS internal investigations and the forensic audit, including the investigation of “our good friend JP” (JP being a reference to Prasad). The Minister was apparently concerned that the investigation could lead to potential connections between various government officials and Sam Mraiche and MHCare Medical. The Deputy Minister asked Mentzelopoulos if Alberta Health and “Andre” (meaning Tremblay) were saying “to back off and tamp stuff down”. (para 63)
We shall see how credible Romanow and Tremblay are if this lawsuit ever reaches the courtroom.