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Doug Ford and Danielle Smith Are Teaming Up to Build a Pipeline

The premiers are betting Canadians have changed their minds about climate change

In the middle of a press conference unveiling a proposal for a new pipeline, Alberta premier Danielle Smith turned to her Ontario counterpart for help. She was in the middle of answering a pointed question from a reporter and was coming up blank on an important detail. “What . . . what are we calling yours?” she asked Doug Ford.

Danielle Smith and Doug Ford have announced a pipeline projected to span from Hardisty, AB, to Sarnia, ON

A majority of Canadians support new pipelines, but climate change concerns could sway public opinion

The pipeline to Ontario has no private sector or government involvement yet and no projected timeline

She’d forgotten the name of the pipeline they were presenting.

In all fairness to Premier Smith, she has a lot of different pipelines on her mind. The announcement, made early last month at the Calgary Stampede, was for the “Northern Shield Energy Corridor” project from Hardisty, Alberta, to Sarnia, Ontario. The proposed 3,300-kilometre pipeline would carry at least half a million barrels of oil a day to refineries owned by Suncor, Shell, and Imperial Oil.

But just four days earlier, Smith had announced another energy project—the “West Coast Oil Pipeline” from Bruderheim, Alberta, to Delta, British Columbia—with Prime Minister Mark Carney. That pipeline will be 90 percent funded by a government-owned company, with 10 percent of its multi-billion-dollar cost coming from Pembina Pipeline Corporation.

The West Coast pipeline has received much more attention and scrutiny, largely because of its federal funding, potential impact on the environment, and the fact that Carney tied the project to a controversial plan to bury carbon dioxide under the ground. The announcement was also made just before wildfires raged across Northern Ontario and created brutal air pollution for much of the continent, putting the impact of higher carbon emissions into sharp focus.

At the second announcement, a reporter asked Smith a tough but necessary question. “Isn’t it obvious that no one in the industry actually believes this is going to be built? Certainly not enough to put their own money into it.”

The journalist had a point. The pipeline to Ontario currently has no private sector proponent, no federal government involvement yet, and no projected timeline. Still, Smith was defiant. She........

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