BC won’t support pipeline deal signed by Carney, Smith, says Premier David Eby

Reaction continues to pour in after Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to look into building a pipeline to B.C.’s North Coast.

B.C. Premier David Eby says the B.C. government will not support the pipeline, and says it should not proceed without the support of coastal First Nations, who have been saying for months they will use every tool in their toolbox to make sure a pipeline will never be built.

Eby says he is disappointed the federal and Alberta governments came up with the plan without having B.C. at the table, but says the province will not be taking legal action to support the project.

He says the pipeline has no private-sector backing, and the only way it could be built is with taxpayer money, which he says is a non-starter.

“It similarly has no company that has stepped up and said, even under the most optimistic condition, that they would be interested in building it, that if it were already built, that they would be interested in buying it, which leaves only one possible way that it could get built, which is through a massive taxpayer-funded support in the order of $30-$40 billion,” he said

At a signing ceremony in Calgary Thursday, Carney and Smith signed the MOU that commits them to working toward building an oil pipeline to the West Coast. They both agreed to terms that commit Ottawa to adjusting the West Coast tanker ban if a pipeline is approved as a project of national interest under the Building Canada Act and provides “opportunities for Indigenous co-ownership and shared economic benefits.”

— With files from The Canadian Press.