Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith participates in a panel discussion during CERAWeek in Houston, Tx., on March 12.KAYLEE GREENLEE/Reuters
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she is playing “good cop” as other Canadian leaders take a more adversarial stance against President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, preferring to seek common ground with the U.S. administration on energy.
Ms. Smith told an audience at a major U.S. energy conference on Wednesday that she favours expanding oil export capacity to the United States, but plans to push for more access to other markets if the two countries are unable to repair their fractured trade relationship.
“I would say that maybe I’m a good cop and others are a bad cop. I have a great relationship with some of the members of the administration because I’m more conservative,” she said at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston.
“There’s a lot of other issues that we find alignment on, and I would rather be diplomatic and try to get to whatever the long-term relationship is going to be,” she said. “I don’t think you blow up a 100-year trade history with two incredible allies over some temporary problems. I think, yes, we have to get through them. We have to identify the issues, but I’m playing the long game here.”
She said she would like as many as two million barrels a day of new oil pipeline capacity built, which would be an increase of nearly 50 per cent from today. “We might not be able to start that conversation today, but I hope we can start it soon,” the Premier said.
Indeed, Ms. Smith’s efforts to win favour included a trip to Mar-a-Lago in Florida before the inauguration in January to talk to Mr. Trump about Alberta’s energy role in the U.S. economy. Canadian energy is still subject to tariffs, but Washington imposed lower duties on it than most other imports – 10 per cent versus 25 per cent.
With uncertainty over a détente on trade with the United States, support for pipelines to Canada’s coasts is building across the country, Ms. Smith said. They include potential export points in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Manitoba and Eastern Canada, she said.
Her position contrasts with the federal government and the remarks of Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Mr. Ford was preparing on Wednesday to discuss the trade fracas with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a day after a chaotic to-and-fro on tariffs.
That included Mr. Trump slapping a 50-per-cent duty on steel and aluminum in response to Mr. Ford’s imposition of a 25-per-cent surcharge on electricity exports. The President changed course after Mr. Ford suspended the surcharge. The Premier maintained his tough public stand, however.
Mr. Ford met with prime-minister-designate Mark Carney on Wednesday for breakfast in Toronto later saying on social media that “we agreed on the need to stand firm and strong in the face of President Trump’s threats, including additional retaliatory tariffs.”
“Canada won’t relent until the threat of tariffs is gone for good,” Mr. Ford said on X.
Alberta’s potential as an exporter appears to have grown in terms of oil and gas it has in reserve. Ms. Smith touted a new resource study conducted by McDaniel & Associates that shows big gains, especially in natural gas.
According to the tally, Alberta now has 1,360 trillion cubic feet of gas, including 130 trillion proved reserves. That is up from a previous recoverable estimate of 26 trillion, and moves the province into the top 10 global jurisdictions for gas reserves, the government said. The province also has 1.8 trillion barrels of oil, largely in the oil sands. Of that, 167 billion are recoverable, up from the previous 159 billion.
In terms of new markets, Alberta has signed a memorandum of understanding with a European refiner, which would include the sale of 50,000 barrels of oil a day in crude oil taken as royalty in kind. Ms. Smith said part of the strategy is to provide incentives to advance new pipelines. She also said the oil, sold by the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission, could be shipped on pipelines that extend to the U.S. Gulf Coast for export, which underscores the importance of scrapping the tariffs.
With a report from Robert Fife