Alberta, BC best of pals

Alberta and British Columbia are making a fresh stab at rebuilding neighborly relations.

After years of prickly dealings, with Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline at the core of the tensions, the two provinces have promised to try melting the deep freeze.

Things started out promisingly when Alberta Premier Jim Prentice made his first out-of-province trip to British Columbia after being sworn into office.

When asked by reporters if they had moved beyond the rancor that was evident under Prentice’s predecessor Alison Redford, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark opted for a diplomatic response, by choosing to heap praise on Prentice.

“There hasn’t been a premier in Alberta’s history who has understood British Columbia’s uniqueness as well as Premier Prentice does,” she declared, noting that Prentice had served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as minister of the environment and for aboriginal issues.

“We have so much that we have in common that we want to work together on and, in order to make that work, we need to also understand how we’re different,” she said.

Prentice said he discussed a wide range of issues with Clark, including trade, Asia-Pacific markets and Northern Gateway.

“In keeping with the candor, the frankness, the respect that we have for each other, it was an opportunity to sit down and discuss issues.”

He said the meeting laid the groundwork for future discussions.

Clark said Northern Gateway and related trade initiatives are a key topic, especially given that the two provinces along with Saskatchewan represent a trading bloc that produces C$500 billion in gross domestic product.

“We have an opportunity in front of us to really grow the national economy,” she said.

But neither leader was ready to comment on the chances of meeting Clark’s insistence that she will not endorse Northern Gateway until she is satisfied that her demands for environmental protection, the concerns of First Nations, disaster preparedness and revenue-sharing have been met.

- Gary Park