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Alberta says it is taking extreme steps to protect itself from a hostile government that wants to trample on its economic and political security. It is also issuing ultimatums to the country’s leader and threatening dire consequences if those demands are not met.
Naturally, we’re talking about the Canadian government. You didn’t think we were talking about the U.S., did you?
Premier Danielle Smith has been busy talking up the need for diplomacy with the American government and submission to its demands, while at the same time enacting radical steps to fight Ottawa and warn of a “national unity crisis” if the federal government doesn’t bow to demands almost entirely focused on boosting the oil and gas sector.
It’s a remarkable situation, but one in keeping with the sovereigntist backbone of the United Conservative Party under Smith and its unflinching promotion of fossil fuels. It’s also significant in light of revelations this weekend about an interview Smith did with far-right news outlet Breitbart earlier in March, in which she said she asked the Donald Trump administration to hold off on tariffs until after the federal election to help the Conservative Party of Canada’s campaign.
Let’s dive in.
In 2020, former premier Jason Kenney introduced the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act in response to First Nations protesters across the country blockading rail lines to support hereditary Wet‘suwet‘en chiefs opposed to the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through their territory. The draconian legislation allowed the Alberta government to impose severe punishment to protect what it deemed critical infrastructure and raised serious questions about rights and freedoms in Alberta.
The province was slow and reluctant to use the legislation against border blockades in the time of COVID-19 lockdowns. But this year, Alberta created a two-kilometre buffer zone along the border— where police have more rights and people have fewer — using the act to appease the U.S. and keep the oil flowing south.
Now, the government wants to stretch the definition of infrastructure to include, wait for it, data about oil and gas production and emissions. It announced impending changes to the act that would extend it to include facilities where that data is stored and enshrine the border zone in the legislation.
The province said, unironically, that it was meant to protect Alberta from “unconstitutional federal overreach.”
The effort is part of a larger push back by Smith’s government against any and all federal legislation aimed at curbing emissions from the oil and gas sector, with particular ire currently directed at the proposed emissions cap.
“Our government will continue using every tool we can to defend the best interests of Albertans, our economy, and our industry,” Smith said in a news release. “These amendments would further assert Alberta’s exclusive provincial jurisdiction to develop its natural resources and ensure our southern border remains secure.”
The government said the proposed changes are in line with the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, passed last year.
This move is in keeping with an earlier promise by the province to limit access to private oil and gas facilities, based on approved guest lists generated by the government. Picture a velvet rope, with VIP access for those with hard hats and “axe the tax” T-shirts.
Because freedom.
After her pledge to enshrine border-zone restrictions and control access to oil and facilities, Smith met with the new prime minister, Mark Carney. If anyone was hoping for a reset in relations, well.
Immediately after the meeting in Edmonton, Smith issued a list of demands and said Carney risked an “unprecedented national unity crisis” if they were not met within six months of the April 28 election. It’s a stark contrast to the diplomacy she has championed when it comes to Trump’s America.
Every one of the nine demands is directly related to the oil and gas sector, except for the call to end the ban on single-use plastics, which are, of course, made with petroleum.
“I also made it clear that Alberta, as owner of the resource, will not accept an export tax or restriction of Alberta’s oil and gas to the United States, and that our province is no longer agreeable to subsidizing other large provinces who are fully capable of funding themselves,” Smith said.
Meanwhile the U.S. president is openly threatening Canadian sovereignty..
Significant interprovincial and federal co-operation would be needed for any of Smith’s demands to be met — particularly the brazen call for “guaranteeing Alberta full access to unfettered oil and gas corridors to the north, east and west.”
One direction was missing from that compass, but it appears to be the only one Smith is actively focused on for Alberta’s future.
Smith’s government is actively, almost exclusively, focused on one sector — and using the current international crisis as an opportunity to support it.
She and Energy Minister Brian Jean issued a joint statement last week in support of an industry letter signed by the CEOs of major oil and gas producers. The letter calls on the feds to declare a “Canadian energy crisis” and use all of its emergency powers to build more energy infrastructure, and do so quickly.
Smith and Jean’s statement said leaving Alberta’s “treasured resource in the ground would be an outright betrayal of current and future generations of Canadians” and that “Ottawa’s elected eco-extremists have done everything they can to keep our oil and gas in the ground.”
Just in case anyone was still curious about the objectives of the Alberta government and its relationship with the country.
The moves come the same week The Globe and Mail reported on a draft plan by the Alberta Energy Regulator to establish Crown corporations that would take over marginal oil and gas wells from private companies to help clean them up, putting the risk on the public rather than private companies.
To help facilitate Alberta’s newfound freedom, the province is also taking further steps to restrict the flow of information from the government.
Last week, it announced some minor housekeeping changes that pave the way for a larger overhaul of the Freedom of Information Act that will significantly hamper the ability of the public (and journalists) to uncover why and how the government makes decisions.
The eventual restrictions, to be introduced this spring, include preventing access to the information that guides government decision-making, and barring all access to information tied to undefined “political staff” within government and government agencies.
Perhaps it should just use the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act to protect documents and not bother with the legislative rigmarole.
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