Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Calgary on Friday.Todd Korol/Reuters
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith trumpeted a new energy accord she signed with Ottawa on Friday as a salve for separatists in her province, while some First Nations and her counterpart in British Columbia slammed it as a reward for bad behaviour.
Ms. Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday unveiled the details of the pact designed to smooth the path for a bitumen pipeline to the West Coast. Alberta agreed to increase the carbon price it imposes on oil producers, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through carbon capture and storage, while Ottawa agreed to support a pipeline to tidewater.
The signing ceremony in Calgary capped a tumultuous week for the Premier, after an Alberta judge on Wednesday threw out a citizen-led petition in support of an independence vote, in part because the government did not consult with First Nations.
Ms. Smith, who has pledged support for her province to remain in Canada, while instructing her government to appeal the decision, is banking on Friday’s deal to win over Albertans who turned to separation out of frustration with Ottawa.
“This will help a lot towards a group of folks who are disaffected because of economic issues,” she told reporters at a press conference after signing the deal.
But Ms. Smith warned the federal government must take further action to calm Alberta’s independence advocates. “A lot of the separatist movement is being fuelled by those who are law-abiding gun-owners who are going to be made criminals” when Ottawa’s amnesty period on banned assault-style firearms wraps up at the end of October, she said.
Mr. Carney said the deal is about more than just building a pipeline.
“Today is also about building trust in a Canada that works,” he said. “A Canada rooted in co-operative federalism, where we build together – pragmatically and ambitiously – to achieve our shared ambitions."
Ms. Smith and Mr. Carney shake hands at Friday's signing ceremony.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
While Ms. Smith and Mr. Carney celebrated their negotiated détente, B.C. Premier David Eby lashed out.
“As a country, it’s time to stop rewarding bad behaviour,” he said in a statement. “It cannot be the case that the projects that get prioritized in Canada are those where a Premier threatens to leave the country.”
Ms. Smith has spent years railing against Ottawa’s treatment of Alberta, particularly its oil and gas industry. A year ago, she warned that whoever won the 2025 federal election would have six months to introduce policies that pleased the energy industry or face an “unprecedented national unity crisis.”
Mr. Carney said he spoke with Mr. Eby on Thursday and they plan to meet next week in Vancouver.
“The people of British Columbia benefit from projects that touch them,” Mr. Carney said in a separate press conference on Friday.
Mr. Eby previously called the energy accord a distraction from projects already under way; coastal First Nations in B.C. have said they are prepared to challenge pipeline projects in court.
In Alberta, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Chief Sheldon Sunshine and Mikisew Cree First Nation Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro also chastised the Prime Minister.
The chiefs said Mr. Carney is proceeding with “more appeasement of the separatist Premier Danielle Smith.”
“Our Nations have had enough,” they wrote in a letter made public Friday. “We call on you, the Prime Minister of Canada, to withhold support for investments, projects, or MOUs in Alberta until the Premier clearly commits to rejecting any separatist referendum that creates uncertainty around Canada’s constitutional framework and the Treaty relationship.”
Ms. Smith on Friday reiterated her stance that Justice Shaina Leonard’s ruling on the citizen-led petition runs counter to democracy.
“If you want to be a democratic government and run a democratic province, there has to be some deference of the court,” she said on Friday. “I just don’t simply believe that an unelected judge should be able to run roughshod over all of these democratic provisions.”
Ms. Smith noted her government has been “very clear” it wants the petition process to be “very permissive.”
Alberta’s independence advocates are now demanding the government use its power to put a secession question on the Oct. 19 referendum ballot. Ms. Smith said her caucus and cabinet will discuss their options next week.