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Dispute scuttles energy strategy
The Canadian Rockies, the geographic dividing line between Alberta and British Columbia, have turned into a chasm.
In a dispute without parallel, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Alison Redford went out of their way to avoid each other during a three-day conference in Halifax as a dispute over Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline undermined any chance of an agreement among Canada’s 10 provincial premiers to build a national energy strategy.
Clark, trailing far behind New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix with 10 months remaining before the next provincial election, has pinned her fading hopes of retaining power on squeezing a better economic deal for British Columbia out of Northern Gateway.
She is emphatic that the C$5.6 billion project to ship 525,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil sands crude to Asia will not proceed unless her province receives an unspecified amount as its “fair share” of the fiscal and economic benefits flowing from the pipeline.
By some estimates, British Columbia would collect C$8 billion of the C$81 billion Northern Gateway would generate in provincial and federal revenues.
Clark said that is not enough when British Columbia will shoulder 100 percent of the marine and 58 percent of the land-based risks of the pipeline.
In the process, she has ignored the fact that Canada’s National Energy Board and the federal government have jurisdiction over pipelines that cross provincial borders and issue export permits for oil and gas.
But Clark insists Northern Gateway will die unless Alberta negotiates with British Columbia over sharing the economic benefits.
“If Alberta doesn’t decide they want to sit down and engage, the project stops. It’s as simple as that,” she said.
BC touts “fiscal levers” She drove the point home on July 27 at Halifax by walking out of a meeting of premiers who were seeking agreement on a national energy strategy, which Redford views as essential to speed approvals and reduce conflict over energy mega-projects.
Redford spurned Clark’s demands, saying Alberta will not share its royalties.
“We will continue to protect the jurisdiction we have over our energy resources,” she said.
Redford said British Columbia has “fiscal levers” to collect a “greater economic benefit” from Northern Gateway or other crude oil export projects, noting Clark could raise port taxes or tax Enbridge’s profits.
She received backing this week from federal Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird who said Clark’s demand for a larger slice of Northern Gateway revenues would create a “toll gate” across Canada.
While the two neighboring premiers are at odds, most observers doubt a pan-Canadian energy strategy is even possible..
—Gary Park
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