Notley threatening oil embargo
EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is threatening to turn off the oil taps in a fight with British Columbia over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Notley won’t say if she would cut off B.C. or the rest of Canada – or both – but says her government is ready to pass legislation to make it happen.
“Our key focus is getting people’s attention on the matter,” Notley told a news conference Thursday prior to the speech from the throne to open the next session of the legislature.
“We’re not interested in creating any kind of crisis in any way, shape or form. We’re going to be measured. We’re going to be careful.”
The $7.9-billion pipeline expansion would triple the amount of Alberta crude going from Edmonton to the port in Burnaby.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government approved the Kinder
Trump says he’ll meet with North Korean leader
WASHINGTON — After months of trading insults and threats of nuclear annihilation, President Donald Trump agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un by the end of May to negotiate an end to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, South Korean and U.S. officials said Thursday. No sitting American president has ever met with a North Korea leader.
The meeting would be unprecedented during seven decades of animosity between the U.S. and North Korea. The countries remain in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.
“Great progress being made,” Trump tweeted after the South Korean national security director, Chung Eui-yong, announced the plans to reporters in a hastily called appearance on a White House driveway.
Trump added that sanctions will remain in place until there’s a deal. Trump took office vowing to stop North Korea from attaining a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the U.S. mainland, a goal that Pyongyang is on the cusp of reaching. Morgan project in 2016, but the pipeline has since faced permit fights and challenges from the B.C. government.
Alberta has already imposed and pulled back on a ban of wine from B.C., but Notley said the government will not stand for further delays and harassment.
She said the project is vital to Alberta and to the rest of Canada, and the country is forgoing thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in lost revenue due to pipeline bottlenecks.
“There are many tools that we also have between our previous wine ban and this tool,” said Notley.
“All we are doing is making sure that our tools are at the ready, because it is important for Albertans to understand that we are going to stand up to protect the interests of Albertans on this matter.”
Notley said the province is looking at taking action on oil and natural gas.
Each day, Alberta currently exports 44,000 barrels per day of gasoline and 47,000 barrels of diesel to B.C., representing more than 20 per cent of its total production.
Alberta exports 2.4 billion cubic feet per day of marketable natural gas to B.C. per day, representing one quarter of its production. About 17 per cent of those exports are used by B.C., with the rest going to the United States.
Notley’s announcement echoes action taken in 1980 by former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed in a showdown with the federal government.
Lougheed announced phased cuts to oil flows amounting to 15 per cent over nine months as well as the cancellation of two large oilsands developments after Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals brought in the national energy program with its price controls, new taxes, and revenue sharing. The two sides brokered a compromise after Lougheed turned off the taps.