Smith puts Carney on notice with changes to infrastructure defence law

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OTTAWA — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith fired a shot across the bow of new Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday, vowing to beef up a provincial law shielding oil and gas production from federal meddling.

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Smith said at a press conference that new amendments to Alberta’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act would put a firewall around Alberta’s energy sector by declaring oil and gas production sites and facilities housing emissions data and records as essential infrastructure.

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The premier said the amendments were necessary to safeguard the province’s energy security and economic interests from outside interference.

“And that includes interference from Ottawa,” Smith added, removing any lingering ambiguity about who the new provisions were aimed at.

In November, Smith announced that she would make greenhouse gas emissions data the exclusive property of the provincial government. She claimed she was blindsided by the Liberal government’s oil and gas emissions cap, which she said was imposed on Alberta as part of a “deranged vendetta.”

Smith said on Wednesday that federal officials would be barred from provincial facilities, pointing to a 2022 incident in Saskatchewan where federal workers allegedly trespassed on private farmland to collect water samples.

“The Saskatchewan government did something quite similar in saying federal agents are not going to be allowed to just show up on people’s private land,” Smith told reporters.

Smith said she was proactively taking action to “clos(e) that door” on anything of the sort happening in Alberta.

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Turning to Carney, Smith warned her new federal counterpart not to test Alberta’s resolve to protect its turf from Ottawa, as his predecessor Justin Trudeau had made a habit of doing.

“If the new prime minister wants to renew an old fight, we will,” said Smith.

She added that she hoped Carney had taken the time to read Section 92A of Canada’s Constitution, which gives the provinces jurisdiction over non-renewable natural resource development.

A spokesperson for federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson dismissed Smith’s tough talk as political theatrics.

“In a time when Canadians must and are coming together to combat real threats, it is disappointing to see the Government of Alberta attempt to manufacture divides,” said the spokesperson in an email to the National Post.

“The federal government is confident we are within our areas of jurisdiction when it comes to energy, has nothing to hide, and would like to work with Alberta to make Canada an energy superpower for years to come. We hope Alberta can say the same — now more than ever, Canadians deserve collaboration, not political theatre.”

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Smith also said on Wednesday that a two-kilometre deep ‘critical border zone’ created earlier this year will be written into the Act.

National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com

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