Carney tries to be slick but pipeline games won’t end well

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith recently agreed to a deal committing their governments to work towards building an oil pipeline to the northwest coast of British Columbia “in the national interest.”

There are some other interesting environmental parts of the agreement — such as a commitment to have the project meet the goals of the Pathways Alliance carbon capture project and Alberta committing to an industrial carbon price — but this memorandum of understanding signals a transformational change in the relationship between Alberta and Canada (not to mention a collective break from the era of former prime minister Justin Trudeau).

And that’s just about where the understanding ends for nearly everyone else.

“We will use every tool in our toolbox to ensure that this pipeline does not go ahead,” Marilyn Slett, Heiltsuk Nation Chief and president of the Coastal First Nations, said in a statement.

“Coastal First Nations, along with the province of B.C., will never allow our coast to be put at risk of a catastrophic oil spill.

“This (deal) is nothing less than a high risk and deeply irresponsible agreement that sacrifices Indigenous coastal communities, and the environment for political convenience,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said in a statement.

“By explicitly endorsing a new bitumen pipeline to B.C.’s coast and promising to rewrite the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, the federal government is resurrecting one of the most deeply flawed and divisive ideas in Canadian energy politics.”

The president of the Haida Nation was equally blunt.

“This project is not going to happen,” said Jason Alsop.

Alsop then identified that the repeal of any tanker ban would remove protections for Haida Gwaii — an archipelago recognized earlier this year as Haida territory by Trudeau.

First Nations aren’t the only ones against the Carney-Smith agreement.

“I strongly oppose the memorandum,” wrote Steven Guilbeault, the former heritage minister, in his cabinet resignation letter.

Environmental organizations hated the deal, too.

“Filling this pipeline and expansion would require more oil sands mining, leading to more carbon pollution, more tailings, and worse impacts for communities near the tar sands,” stated Keith Brooks of the political organization Environmental Defence.

“The pipeline to B.C. would have to cross some of the most challenging terrain in Canada. The impacts of construction would be severe.”

The worst condemnation of all belonged to B.C. Premier David Eby.

Pointing out that the Alberta-Canada agreement was created without consultation with British Columbia, Eby said the project was impossible and has “no proponent, no route, no money, no First Nations support” and only serves to divide Canadians and Indigenous Peoples.

Responding to media questions, Carney pointed to the increased funding for the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program to allow First Nations to co-own the project and the fact that participating communities would see economic benefits.

“We have zero interest in co-ownership or economic benefits of a project that has the potential to destroy our way of life and everything we have built on the coast,” Slett stated.

With virtually no other partners, why would Carney and Smith — two smart politicians — sign a deal that seems (and probably is) impossible?

The answer, of course, is politics.

Carney is tired of Smith’s near-endless chanting that Ottawa is anti-Alberta and anti-pipeline.

Agreeing with her oft-stated goal of a pipeline through northern B.C. puts her in the position as the primary, and perhaps only, proponent.

If the project fails, it’s now on her.

Smith can now turn to her political base and Alberta’s oil industry and say she has achieved the dream of a federal blessing for a pipeline to the world’s markets.

She can also now demonize someone other than Ottawa if the project doesn’t happen — a frequent strategy she relies upon.

The problem of course, is that First Nations and the B.C. government — which has committed in law to recognizing Indigenous rights — are located firmly in the middle of these political games.

A game instigated by Prime Minister Carney.

Since entering office a few months ago, Carney has consistently struggled with a core constituency in this country: Indigenous Peoples.

From the lack of Indigenous rights in the One Canadian Economy Act to the disastrous meetings with First Nations and Métis governments last summer to the virtual abandonment of federal policies invested in anything but “economic reconciliation,” Carney has shown his cards and the game is clear.

If one supports projects of the “national interest” one can be a winner. Or a loser, if one doesn’t.

If one wants to stand with Indigenous governments that say no, good luck.

It’s a game that will not end well, for it’s a divide-and-conquer strategy.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca