Ottawa’s attack on Alberta has been thwarted

It’s never a good idea to celebrate too early. Touch wood and all that. But there is cause finally for some optimism in Alberta’s energy sector. Or, at least, less pessimism. It’s a start.

Just a few weeks ago, we noted that newly elected Alberta Premier Jason Kenney had his work cut out for him. Writing mostly of the energy file, a month ago, our editorial said, “Alberta has chosen a new premier who is eager and able to correct the NDP’s economic (and other) policy mistakes at home, (but) those problems coming from outside the province remain.” That’s still true. But some help might be on the way.

The first bit of a good news came with a heavy blow to C-48, a proposed federal bill aptly and succinctly known as “the tanker ban.” The bill would forbid oil tankers from operating along the B.C. coast anywhere from north of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border, which would obviously and inevitably further hamper Alberta’s already fraught efforts to export its oil to global markets. It would not, however, ban other kinds of tanker traffic in the area. Everything but oil is fine, including other kinds of fuels. And it would not ban tankers on the East Coast. It’s inherently discriminatory against Alberta.

And it has suffered a defeat in the Senate. Sen. Paula Simons, an independent senator for Alberta, had sought a series of amendments to the bill. Her proposals were reasonable, but did not find support. So she voted against C- 48 with the Conservative senators on the reviewing committee. The result was a 6-6 tie, but a tie, by Senate rules, is a defeat.

“At the end of the day, C- 48 was a flawed bill,” Simons told the Edmonton Journal, “and it was big middle finger to Alberta. It was a provocation at a time when feelings are pretty raw in the province.”

The Liberals can still try to salvage the bill; it’s not dead yet. But the setback was a relief for those of us who support Alberta’s equal right to develop its economy, and a promising sign that the pendulum may be returning from the furtherest extent of its recent anti-Alberta extreme.

There’s also cause for cautious optimism on the matter of proposed Bill C-69, which would massively overhaul the rules and regulations for energy project approvals in Canada, including requiring the incorporation of unscientific factors such as gender considerations and traditional Indigenous knowledge, while giving standing to opponents not even directly affected by projects. Critics have warned that the bill would not only make future projects much harder to advance, it would insert significant regulatory uncertainty into projects already underway or under consideration. The bill now faces nearly 200 proposed amendments introduced by concerned senators. Again, as with C-48, this does not mean the bill is dead or defeated. But it does mean that smooth passage is off the table, and the Liberals will have to fight harder than they were counting on to get these highly problematic bills passed — if they’re passable at all.

These aren’t exactly what you would call victories for Alberta and all Canadians who support our responsible and reasonable energy development goals. Not yet. But they are signs, as Premier Kenney has noted, that momentum is maybe, just maybe, beginning to shift. Canadians should keep their eyes on the Senate to see what comes next. Things are certainly starting to get interesting.