VICTORIA – Premier David Eby says a pipeline plan across northern B.C. by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith threatens community support and social license that would allow other major projects along the provincial coast to move forward.
Smith’s proposal for an oil pipeline to B.C.‘s north coast would require Ottawa to scrap a tanker ban in the region, and Eby says such a move risks upsetting the current “fragile consensus” over resource development, one that he hopes to strengthen.
If there is to be a conversation, Eby says it should be about a “real project,” not one that hasn’t secured a proponent, funding or environmental assessment approval.
When you apply that test, Eby says Smith’s plan “fails on every count.”
Eby told an unrelated news conference that Smith’s pipeline proposal could only go ahead with billions of dollars in public money, and provinces other than Alberta should be given a “fair shot” at proposing their own projects for consideration by Ottawa.
The premier’s comments come after Smith said Eby’s recent rejection of her pipeline pitch last week was “un-Canadian” and “unconstitutional.”
She made the remarks after Eby called the proposed pipeline “fictional” in a video posted Monday.
Eby said Tuesday that “it’s not the Danielle Smith show, it’s the Canadian team,” adding “there’s nothing more Canadian than fairness.”
He said B.C. is advancing more than $40 billion worth of “real projects” with proponents and financing that will employ people from across Canada and help the country reduce its dependence on the United States as a trading partner.
“These projects … will pay royalties that support the federal government program of meeting our NATO commitments,” he said.
But Eby said Smith’s plan threatens to upend those projects, including upgrades at the Port of Prince Rupert, as coastal First Nations express concern.
When asked whether B.C. would eventually be forced to capitulate if it were the only province opposed to Smith’s plan, Eby said he was opposed to “using our coast as a political tool.”
“We need, as a country, less politics and more projects,” Eby said.
Earlier Tuesday, B.C.‘s energy minister said the “definition of being Canadian isn’t to agree with everything Danielle Smith says.”
Adrian Dix said B.C. will continue to “support real projects” with real proponents and real money behind them, calling Smith’s proposed pipeline a “political proposal.”
He said Canadians should be coming together to work on projects that drive jobs and incomes for families instead of debating about those that lack business plans.
Opposition B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad agreed with Smith, saying Eby needs to be “called out for blocking the prosperity of Canadians.”
Rustad said on Tuesday that B.C. residents need to think of themselves “not as British Columbians” but as Canadians, who must help landlocked Alberta and Saskatchewan get their products to market.
The proposed pipeline could help renew Confederation by quelling Alberta’s separatist movement, which “has real grievances,” he said.
Rustad acknowledged that such a pipeline would require support from First Nations, which he said he would seek.
The federal government would also have to lift the tanker ban off B.C.‘s northern coast.
Rustad said he would reveal his plan to get around the tanker ban at a later date, should Ottawa refuse to lift it, and added he was “extremely optimistic” that there will be a pipeline in the future.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2025.
