B.C. Premier David Eby says it “cannot be the case that the projects that get prioritized in Canada are those where a Premier threatens to leave the country.”
Eby issued the statement hours after Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed a landmark implementation agreement on Friday (May 15) to advance the design and construction of a new west coast oil pipeline to as early as Sept. 1, 2027.
Eby said B.C. is looking for the same attention to “shovel-ready projects” that Alberta is getting for a proposal.
“Here in B.C., we have what the rest of the world is looking for: critical minerals, natural resources, and port access. We have shovel-ready projects with real proponents, and investments that will provide good-paying jobs and funding for public services. Some of our $88 billion in prioritized projects have already reached final investment decisions creating thousands of new, high-paying jobs.
“Despite this early success, our 35 additional job-creating projects need more attention from, and co-ordination with, Ottawa.
Eby added that the federal government “must work as closely” with B.C. as it has been with Alberta and Smith of a “proposed pipeline – a project that has yet to identify a proponent or a route.”
Key elements of the Alberta-Canada energy Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed in November 2025, were finalized through the agreement as a result of collaboration between the federal and provincial governments.
The governments have agreed to implement several changes to their respective environmental policies that will reduce regulatory uncertainty and create the conditions necessary for Alberta to significantly increase its energy production and exports to Asian and other global markets.
The agreement also allows Alberta to avoid a significant increase to the federally mandated industrial carbon tax to save Alberta’s industry partners about $250 billion over the next two decades to 2050.
The proposed oil pipeline would transport more than one million barrels of oil per day through a strategic port to Asian markets.
Both the B.C. Conservatives and Green Party said Alberta and the federal governments have been given the ability to make decisions for B.C. through this deal.
B.C. Conservative interim Leader Trevor Halford said this is a nation-building deal and the B.C. NDP have been “locked out of the room.
“While the Prime Minister and the Premier of Alberta were doing the hard work of growing the Canadian economy, the NDP is on the sidelines calling this pipeline a ‘fiction’ and an ‘energy vampire.’ He chose petulance over partnership, and now BC workers and BC families are paying the price for his ego.”
Halford added that “this is a deal about B.C.’s coast, B.C.’s ports, B.C.’s workers, and B.C.’s future.”
Conservative Energy Critic Larry Neufeld said that through this deal the NDP government has been working against B.C.’s economic interests.
“For months, the NDP have dismissed this pipeline, dismissed the workers behind it, and dismissed the families who would benefit from it. Adrian Dix called it not a ‘real project that actually exists in time and space,’” Neufeld said.
“Today, Ottawa and Alberta proved him wrong, and proved that when a BC government refuses to show up, the rest of the country will move on without us,” Neufeld said.
Meanwhile, B.C. Green Party Leader Emily Lowan called it a backroom pipeline deal, adding that “letting Smith dictate oil policy is like letting a child dictate bedtime.”
“There is no world where a new pipeline proves beneficial for working people, economically or environmentally,” Lowan said. “Danielle Smith’s self-interest will only benefit the fossil fuel billionaires who are stuffing her pockets and funding her desperate last grasp at oil dominance.
West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jeremy Valeriote said this new agreement “goes totally backwards” and appeases corporate interests and Smith.
– With files from Red Deer Advocate