Doug Ford and Danielle Smith ink deal to promote pipelines and rail links

Hamilton Spectator

18-07-2025

CALGARY—Putting pressure on Prime Minister Mark Carney, Doug Ford and Danielle Smith want new pipelines and rail links built with Ontario steel to get Alberta oil to market.
The Ontario premier and his Alberta counterpart signed two memorandums of understanding on Monday that they said would also boost mining development in the Ring of Fire 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay.
Their agreement comes against the backdrop of Carney vowing to make Canada 'an energy superpower' despite concerns from some Indigenous groups, environmentalists and opposition to a westward pipeline through British Columbia.
Asked by a reporter whether she believes the new Liberal prime minister 'is actually going to play ball' and back oil pipelines, Smith said: 'There'll be a moment where the rubber hits the road.'
'You can only talk the talk for so long before you start putting some real action around it,' the United Conservative Alberta premier said, adding she would like to see some movement this fall, including a lifting of the oil tanker moratorium in place since 2019.
Ford, for his part, rallied to Carney's defence.
'I'll tell you one thing, Prime Minister Carney is no Justin Trudeau,' the Progressive Conservative Ontarian said, referring to the former prime minister whose policies were unpopular in the oilpatch.
'He's a business mind. He's run massive, multibillion dollar businesses, and he's bringing a business approach to the federal government that hasn't had that approach in the last 10 years,' said Ford.
'He wants to get things going. He comes from Alberta. He believes in prosperity and opportunity. He believes in cutting waste, because we've seen the ... federal government grow by 40 per cent so I have all the confidence that he's going to listen to the premiers and straighten out the federal government once and for all,' he said.
'I'm giving Prime Minister Carney the benefit of the doubt.'
In a weekend interview with the Calgary Herald, Carney was asked if a new oil pipeline through B.C. would be included in Ottawa's list of projects of national importance.
'It's highly, highly likely that that will be the case. And the only reason why I don't say it definitively is this is not a top-down approach from the federal government saying, 'We want this, we want that,'' the prime minister said.
His comments came as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff war against Canada is forcing Ottawa and the provinces to work together to increase internal trade while looking to new markets in Asia and Europe.
Ford — who attended a private barbecue Friday night at the midtown Toronto home of Transport and Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland with Intergovernmental Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Mayor Olivia Chow and former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien, among others — stressed the need to set aside partisan differences.
'The days of relying on the United States 100 per cent, they're done, they're gone. We're going to start being ... self reliant,' he said.
B.C. Premier David Eby has said he would prefer to focus on 'shovel-ready projects' rather than Smith's dream of an oil pipeline to Pacific tidewater, which has no current private-sector proponent.
The Alberta premier countered that 'government must get out of the way, partner with industry and support the projects this country needs to grow.'
Smith said Ontario and Alberta would soon launch a feasibility study to map out routes for the energy corridors that Carney has promised.
According the text of the 'co-operation' MOU, it is for 'advancing the safe transportation and export of: critical minerals, mined and processed in Canada; and Western Canadian oil and natural gas via pipelines to refineries, seaports, and storage facilities, including but not limited to sites in James Bay and southern Ontario.'
Carney's contentious Bill C-5 — the One Canadian Economy Act, the federal version of Ontario's controversial Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act — gives Ottawa the power to ram through major energy projects.
'Canada's new government is breaking down trade barriers and building one strong economy — connected by Canadian projects, powered by Canadian energy, and crafted by Canadian workers,' the prime minister insisted last week.
Ontario Green Leader Mike Schreiner, for his part, blasted Ford for 'a dangerous escalation in his fossil fuel agenda.'
'Climate change is already driving up the cost of health care, infrastructure, and emergency response, and Ford's plan will only deepen that crisis,' said Schreiner.
While Ford's relations with Smith have been strained in the past — he questioned her appeasement of Trump early in the trade war and expressed concerns about a referendum on Alberta secession — they appear to have developed a warm rapport.
When she presented him with a new Alberta belt buckle at Monday's press conference, he immediately and enthusiastically swapped it out with the custom-made 'Ford Nation' one he had been sporting at his visit to the Calgary Stampede.