Alberta premier warns wine boycott could be just her first move against B.C.
Alberta premier hints wine boycott isn’t last move she’s prepared to make
Around Rachel Notley’s office, the straw that broke Alberta’s back is known simply as “Point 5.”
That’s what senior Alberta government insiders call the unexpected line in a B.C. government news release that threatened to block B.C.-bound shipments of bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands.
The threat was the fifth item on a list of proposed actions in a new B.C. provincial review of the $7.4-billion Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project.
The Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline has been approved by Justin Trudeau’s federal government. It was also approved by Christy Clark’s previous Liberal government in B.C.
It’s a critical piece of infrastructure for Alberta, an economically battered province desperate to get its heavy oil to the B.C. coast for shipment by supertanker to Asia.
But the pipeline is fiercely opposed by the NDP government of John Horgan, who has vowed to use “every available tool” to fight it.
And that includes threatening to block additional Alberta bitumen shipments during a provincial review that could take a year.
“Point 5: That’s what we call this threat to regulate what goes in the pipeline,” Notley told me. “And they don’t get to do that. They don’t get to ever pass laws, in whatever format, deciding what goes into a pipeline, or even threaten to do it.
“And that’s what we’re dealing with now: The threat. Point 5. It has to stop.”
Notley revealed the Horgan government gave her office notice of the announcement of B.C.’s pipeline review. But she said she was shocked when the announcement contained the threat to block additional bitumen shipments while the review took place.
“That came out of nowhere,” she said, adding it led to a heated phone call between herself and Horgan. “It was civil, but it was also very assertive.”
“He said, ‘This is our right to consult and to protect the environment.’ I said, ‘I don’t disagree with you on that, but you can’t do this other thing.’
“He didn’t really speak to that issue, about whether he could or he couldn’t (block Alberta bitumen shipments). But I said, ‘You can’t do this. This can’t carry on.’
“Obviously, we didn’t come to any agreement at the end of the conversation.”
Now Notley has raised the stakes in a way that caught B.C. off guard.
First she cut off talks between the two provinces on potential electricity sales, after B.C. expressed hopes of selling Alberta excess power from the under-construction Site C dam.
Then Notley banned B.C. wine from Alberta liquor stores, an action Horgan called “provocative” and “over the top.”
It seems she’s just warming up.
“We’re looking at other strategies,” she said, while refusing to give hints. “They will be rolled out strategically.” Where does this leave Horgan and his government? Nervously sticking to their guns, while privately fearing where all this is going.
In his first comments on the “wine war,” Horgan said he planned to simply ignore Notley, take no retaliatory action and hope she calms down.
After that decidedly weak response, he got a little tougher the following day.
“We’re reviewing our options and we’ll take action when appropriate,” he said.
Andrew Wilkinson, the newly elected leader of the B.C. Liberals, held a news conference at a Kelowna winery and called on both NDP premiers to stop their “schoolyard squabble.”
He accused Alberta of launching a “fundamental attack” on B.C. and placing our wine industry “under siege.” He called on Horgan to “swallow his pride,” fly to Edmonton and settle the feud with Notley before things get nastier.
The chances of that happening? Zero. Both premiers are out on a political limb, with no easy way to climb down. Horgan must appease the anti-pipeline environmental wing of his party, not to mention keeping his governing partners in the B.C. Green party happy.
Notley is in the fight of her political life in Alberta, where she trails in the polls and faces an election next year.
Taking the fight to B.C. is her best hope for survival.
While the two provinces wage their war, the pressure is mounting on Trudeau to intervene.
Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna revealed that she called her counterparts in both provincial governments and bluntly told them the pipeline will get built.
“We need good projects to go ahead. We need jobs. I’m not getting dragged into a spat between British Columbia and Alberta, but we are committed to getting this result.”
But Trudeau may have to drag himself into the fight anyway, before any more innocent bystanders get economically hurt.