Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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British Columbia Premier David Eby and First Nations have thrown up a wall of opposition to a proposed northern oil pipeline, after Alberta and the federal government signed a memorandum of understanding to work toward making it a reality.
Eby said that the pipeline proposal was a distraction that had already cost B.C. another investment opportunity, dubbing it a potential “energy vampire” draining federal, Indigenous and provincial resources.
He spoke in Victoria with most of his NDP caucus cheering him on from the steps of the B.C. legislature on Thursday.
The memorandum of understanding, signed hours earlier by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary, commits Canada and Alberta to working toward a northern pipeline to B.C.’s coast, with Alberta acting as the proponent, and the federal government making changes to a tanker ban on the north coast “if necessary.”
There are commitments to collaborate with B.C. and share the pipeline’s economic benefits. But Smith underscored in a news conference that there was “no mention of veto” for B.C. in the MOU, while Eby acknowledged there was no requirement for B.C.’s consent.
Eby — who has called to project “fictional” and has been criticizing it for months — drew the line at legal action to fight it and said the province would not be going to court, as it did unsuccessfully against the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion.
“We don’t have to threaten legal action to stop a project, and to be blunt, we have already done that with the TMX project,” said Eby. “We lost in court. It’s very clear. We understand that if the federal government wished, they could impose this pipeline on us.”
Coastal First Nations president Marilyn Slett had no such qualms, telling a news conference they would use “every tool in our tool box to ensure that this pipeline does not go ahead.”
“We’re looking at the legal options. We’re looking at our communities. Our communities are mobilizing,” she told a news conference, after issuing a statement saying the project was never going to happen, that a tanker ban on the north coast “is not up for negotiation,” and the First Nations “will never tolerate any exemptions or carveouts, period.”
She said her organization has had several discussions and meetings with Eby and were “united in our position in opposition” to the pipeline and the MOU.
But on the matter of possible legal action, Eby said the Coastal First Nations were “well and capable of standing up on their own” in asserting their rights, and “they have been doing it for a long time.”
The signing of the MOU comes after weeks of sniping between Eby and his counterparts in the Prairies, and on Thursday it showed no sign of letting up.
Eby said Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe had been talking to Smith about the pipeline this month when he should have been talking with him about problems that potash company Nutrien was having getting its product to market.
Eby said that resulted in Nutrien deciding to ship Saskatchewan potash to global markets through Washington state, bypassing B.C.
“It really pissed me off that we lost the Nutrien deal, because I think that was entirely avoidable, and that is the one that gets under my skin,” said Eby, adding that B.C. and Canada could not afford to “lose real projects in the name of politics right now.”
“The bottom line for us is that we need to make sure that this project doesn’t become an energy vampire,” he said later in the news conference.
With “no proponent, no route, no money, no First Nation support,” it could not be allowed to draw “limited federal resources, limited Indigenous governance resources, limited provincial resources, away from the real projects,” he said.
The characterization of the pipeline as a non-existent political exercise had earlier been made by Eby’s Energy Minister Adrian Dix in the legislature, saying Canada needed to focus on “real projects” in contrast to “performative politics.”
Dix said a “Team Canada” approach should embrace projects that create jobs and unlock financial opportunities, as opposed to “MOUs on projects that don’t exist.”
The MOU says Ottawa and Alberta will engage with Indigenous Peoples in both Alberta and B.C. and promises to offer the opportunity for Indigenous co-ownership and “other forms of economic benefits.”
But Slett said Coastal First Nations have “zero interest” in co-owning or benefiting from a project that has the potential to destroy their way of life, citing the risk of a catastrophic oil spill.
“The honour of the Crown, means the federal government must consult with us on a nation to nation basis and Canada’s domestic and international legal commitments mean they must seek our consent,” she told her news conference.
“We will never consent to allowing oil tankers in our coastal waters. We will never tolerate exemptions to an oil tanker ban that has existed for over 50 years, and it is foundational to protecting our economy and our way of life.”
None of that sort of opposition, which reflects long-held positions, has dampened Smith’s enthusiasm for the project, and the MOU says Alberta and Canada “recognize their obligations to consult with, and where appropriate accommodate, Indigenous Peoples.”
It also promises collaboration with B.C. to ensure its residents “share substantial economic and financial benefits of the proposed pipeline.”
B.C. Conservative Opposition Leader John Rustad said the pipeline was the “right thing to do” for Canada, including B.C.
There was also succinct support from the Business Council of British Columbia, which released a three-word statement: “This is good.”
Simon Fraser University political science professor Andy Hira said he remained skeptical a new pipeline would ever go forward despite the MOU, calling it “political theatre” and an attempt by the federal Liberal government to win support in Alberta, a Conservative stronghold.
“There are provisions in the federal proposal that suggest that there have to be some acceptance by First Nations and jurisdictions that will be affected by the pipeline,” Hira said. “And to me, that is going to be a poison pill for the whole deal.”
Jason Alsop, president of the Council of Haida Nation and vice-president of the Great Bear Initiative, an alliance of Coastal First Nations, said he was disappointed in the MOU, also calling it political theatrics that won’t advance a pipeline.
“We’ve been very clear that the Coastal First Nations, the Haida Nation, the people of the coast, will never allow oil tankers or this pipeline in our territory because of the risks to our culture, our way of life and our self-sufficiency,” he said.
“The ocean is what looks after us, and we have a responsibility to uphold that.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2025.
Ashley Joannou and Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
