Tory interim leader calls B.C. premier a 'radical' for not supporting another pipeline
Debate on Canada's energy sector takes place as Trump hikes tariffs on steel and aluminum
Interim Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer called B.C.'s premier a "radical" for not throwing his support behind a new oil pipeline through the province.
Scheer was sparring with Prime Minister Mark Carney in the House of Commons Wednesday over Canada's response to U.S. President Donald Trump's latest move to hike tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25 to 50 per cent.
"One way to deal with the Americans is from a position of strength, but now the prime minister is saying that he will not even approve a new pipeline unless there is consensus," Scheer said. "This is already unravelling. The radical B.C. premier is saying no pipeline through his province."
Deputy Premier Niki Sharma, standing in for Eby while he is in Asia on a 10-day trade mission, said Scheer's comment isn't constructive at a time when Canada needs to stick together to fight Trump's tariffs.
"This kind of divisive language — that's really not true — is not helpful, I think, to the national dialogue," Sharma said.
Eby doubled down on his position this week that Canada's ticket to becoming an energy superpower is through clean energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG), not another pipeline, which Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is pushing for.
"It's not my job to come in and tell Premier Smith that her vision for a North Coast pipeline is many years off and there's no proponent at this point," Eby told reporters from Osaka, Japan.
Eby pointed out the publicly-owned Trans Mountain pipeline is currently not operating at full capacity.
"That would be a good place to start," he said.
Eby said that in speaking with Japanese companies and potential investors, it's clear that Japan is moving away from fossil fuels like Alberta crude oil.
During a meeting in Saskatoon this week with Canada's premiers, Carney said there's "real potential" for a decarbonized pipeline to get Alberta bitumen to B.C.'s North Coast.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said during the first ministers' meeting he was confident Eby and Carney would "work things out" regarding a second pipeline.
B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix said the pipeline debate is about politics, not economics.
"This would be a colossally expensive and not economic proposal. It's a political proposal."
Dix made the comments during a Wednesday press conference about B.C. Hydro's work to boost the province's baseload electricity generation capacity in a bid to meet the province's growing demand from residents and industries.
Baseload capacity refers to constant and stable power sources. Dix said B.C. Hydro is requesting expressions of interest from companies to provide geothermal or hydroelectric projects to expand long-term power capacity and meet peak demand.
Dix said the call for power is key to building the province's capacity for critical mineral mines and clean energy projects.
"This call for power … is about the growth of our economy, about the opportunities in mining, about the requests for power that are at an extremely high level," he said. "We've got to build out clean electricity, which is one of our significant economic advantages in B.C."
Joe Calnan, an energy security analyst with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said the B.C. government could make it extremely difficult to build a new pipeline, given the control it would have over permitting.
"The federal government would probably need to provide something in return to the government of B.C. in order to make this happen. And so that's kind of the transactional nature of this," he told Sarah Penton, host of CBC's Radio West, on Wednesday.
Calnan said that under the current regulatory environment, an east-to-west pipeline could cost between $60 billion and $80 billion.
"I'd say that Carney has shown himself to be very pragmatic and very much, you know, businesslike," the analyst said.
"But there's a question about how comfortable he is with this kind of politicking, and ... the transactional nature of things, which is kind of how you have to deal with this."
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With files from The Canadian Press and Radio West