Senior cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc says Prime Minister Mark Carney will be different than Justin Trudeau when it comes to working with Alberta and Saskatchewan, while keeping some environmental policies the provinces have raised concerns about.
LeBlanc’s comments come as both provinces have been ramping up their objections post-election to federal policies that they say restrict their oil and gas sectors.
In an interview on CTV’s Question Period to be aired on May 11, LeBlanc said Carney is engaged in “ongoing conversations” with the two Prairie provinces.
“The fact that he’s saying that we should collaborate in terms of the review approval process for large projects with provinces, one project, one review, not duplicating work that’s done by provinces, this is a significant departure from the previous government,” he said.
“The prime minister has, I think, shown a great deal of understanding and openness to support the economy of these resource-intensive provinces.”
Carney has also “taken a constructive and positive tone with respect to Western Canadian resources and their importance to the Canadian economy,” said LeBlanc, who is the minister of international trade and intergovernmental affairs in Carney’s government.
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said she will be putting together a task force to develop ideas about Alberta’s future, and that she’ll form a negotiating team to work with Ottawa on issues of concern to the province.
Smith has also said while she and her party don’t support secession, if a citizen-led initiative meets requirements of a referendum, she would allow it to go to a public vote as per the law.
Carney has promised to remove provincial trade barriers by July 1 to boost the economy in the face of U.S. tariffs. He has also arranged for an in-person meeting with the premiers in Saskatoon on June 2 and 3. It will be the first time in 40 years that a meeting between the prime minister and premiers has been held in Saskawchewan, Moe said.
“I’m not surprised that different premiers from different political parties find policies of a Liberal government different than perhaps they would like,” LeBlanc said. “The important thing is that we can have respectful, productive conversations with those governments, which is exactly what we’re doing.”
Carney has said he intends to stick with the Assessment Act and the emissions cap for the oil and gas sector, both policies that Smith has said are non-starters for her province’s relationship with Ottawa, saying it hinders resource development and production for her province.
When asked if Carney’s plan to get Canadian energy to new markets referred to oil and gas, Leblanc replied that Carney “recognizes the importance of conventional energy in terms of the economic prosperity of the country.”
“We can support a transition to less carbon-intensive forms of energy, but recognize that the world continues to need conventional oil and gas, and Canada should be a reliable, dependable supplier of those energy resources as well,” he said.
In the recent election, Carney’s Liberals only won two seats in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan.
LeBlanc said that how Ottawa will work with the two provinces is yet to be seen, adding that some things take time. He noted the government still needs to be sworn in and a throne speech given before the government can move forward.
“I understand the concern of people across the country with respect to those issues, but the government is at work,” he said.
“The prime minister is very much conscious of those concerns, and we will be working through them with those provinces. But to say that we’ve landed on a final set of measures, or that previous government’s policies will not change in any way, I think is an oversimplification.”
Carney is set to unveil his new cabinet on May 13.
