‘I think we would win that battle’: Danielle Smith promises to fight for resource development in Alberta

OTTAWA –

Alberta premier-designate Danielle Smith says she’s ready to take the fight to Ottawa for Alberta’s autonomy to develop its resources, so that it can build pipelines to get oil and gas to market and boost the forestry and agriculture sectors.

“We’ve always been treated like a subordinate level of government,” she said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period, airing Sunday. “We’ve acted like it. But we’re going to stop acting like that. We’re going to take our place as a senior partner in Confederation.”

Smith also plans to take the federal carbon tax back to the Supreme Court, after it ruled just last year that the policy is constitutional.

She added that Alberta deserves respect for being one of the largest economies in the country, and echoed portions of her Thursday night election victory speech that Albertans will not be “silenced and censored,” and the province will no longer “ask permission from Ottawa to be prosperous and free.”

“We will not have our resources landlocked or our energy phased out of existence by a virtue-signalling prime minister,” she said during her speech. “Albertans, not Ottawa, will chart our own destiny on our own terms and we will work with our fellow Canadians to build the most free and prosperous country on earth.”

Smith told CTV’s Question Period she is ready to work collaboratively with the federal government, but that she’s going to “push very hard” to get resources developed.

“They can take us to court if they want to stop us but I think we would win that battle,” she said. “That’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Smith has promised to push for more autonomy for Alberta throughout her campaign. The premier-designate hopes to table her controversial Alberta Sovereignty Act by early December, following her plans to win the southeastern seat of Brooks-Medicine Hat in the legislature during a byelection launched as early as next week.

The act would give the Alberta legislature the power to ignore federal laws it deems not in the best interest of the province.

“I think that it’s only fair to the federal government to let them know we’re changing our relationship back to the way it was supposed to be,” Smith said.

In a separate interview also airing Sunday, Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told CTV’s Question Period that although Alberta is “pushing at the edges in terms of some of these issues,” there are still opportunities to work together, including at his Regional Energy and Resource Tables.

“I continue to be of the view that this federation works best when we find pathways to work together, understanding that there are always some differences that exist,” he said.

As for Smith’s promise to take the federal carbon tax back to the Supreme Court — arguing recent energy and affordability crises are “new information” the court should consider before making a new ruling — Wilkinson said he believes “that issue has largely been settled.”

“That’s up to the courts as to whether they accept a new challenge, but I would say from a legal perspective, I think the bar is very high,” he said. “It would be very unusual for I think the Supreme Court to rehear a case and just decided, and almost certainly there would be a process that one would have to go through and the arguments would really have to be fundamentally new arguments.”

“But of course Alberta is free to try again through the courts if it feels that that is something that is worth doing,” he added. “I would just say, I think the issue is settled. There are ways in which we can actually move forward without spending a lot more money litigating an issue that I think has been already done.”