After Liberal win, can Carney bridge longstanding divides with the West?

CBC

02-05-2025

In the wake of Mark Carney's election win, several provincial leaders are calling for a political "reset" in how Ottawa engages with the West — particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where grievances over federal decision-making run deep.
The federal government should "engage and consult" Saskatchewan, Premier Scott Moe said Tuesday.
Carney should "reach out to our friends out West, and tell them how he's going to build that pipeline," Ontario Premier Doug Ford added.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith congratulated Carney but said in a statement she would not "permit the status quo to continue."
She later told CBC's Power & Politics host David Cochrane that she believed there was a cross-partisan, national consensus emerging on energy corridors and market access.
"I hope he captures that and is able to move forward with some of the changes he needs to make in order to turn that into a reality," she said.
Carney has spoken of positioning Alberta as the heart of a new superpower in both clean and conventional energy.
"My government will work with Indigenous peoples, with the provinces, and with the private sector to fast-track projects that build our energy security by displacing foreign suppliers such as the United States," Carney said at an election rally in Calgary last month.
"Projects that diversify our export markets, so we rely less on the United States, and projects that enhance our long-term competitiveness, including with low-carbon oil and gas. I know that Alberta will be at the heart of all of these solutions."
A list of demands
Smith held a meeting with Carney before the campaign began and made a list of public demands, including ending Ottawa's proposed emissions cap, and warned that a national unity crisis could unfold should they not be met. On Thursday, she announced Alberta would seek a court ruling on the constitutionality of Ottawa's clean electricity regulations.
Pollster and political analyst Janet Brown said on CBC Radio's Alberta at Noon that Smith's immediate reiteration of her pre-election demands signalled her strategy.
"Danielle Smith is losing no time at all. And she's decided she's going to be on offence … she's going to go up to bat first," Brown said. "She didn't give [Carney] a couple days to settle in."
The onus moving forward is on both politicians, Brown added. For Carney, it will be important to extend an olive branch to Alberta, she said.
"[He'll need] to acknowledge that very few Albertans voted for him, but that he's working to acknowledge what Albertans value about their economy, and what needs to happen to have better relations," she said.
Danielle Smith is losing no time at all. And she's decided she's going to be on offence.
When asked on Power & Politics about a separatism push in her province, Smith said her government would not advance such an initiative but left the door open for a citizen referendum.
"I believe that we've got to try to be on Team Canada, but my view has always been that Team Canada has to show that they're on Team Alberta, too," she said.
"I think this is an opportunity for us to do that reset. I'm open-minded about it."
Brown added that Smith appears to be setting the stage for separatist sentiment without pulling the plug herself.
"Now forever after, she'll be able to say, 'No, no, I didn't call for this referendum, the public called for this referendum,'" Brown said, referencing recent legislation that lowers the threshold for citizen-led referendums.
Danielle Smith says her Alberta government won't advance a separation vote
2 days ago
Duration 8:09
The third-party option
Some observers say the need for a reset isn't just about Ottawa but about how Alberta has approached the relationship itself.
"If you think of the way that Premier Smith approached the election, you'll see that it was very different from, say, the way Premier Ford of Ontario or Premier [Tim] Houston of Nova Scotia, both conservative premiers, dealt with it," said David Stewart, a political science professor at the University of Calgary whose research is focused on Canadian politics.
"They took a more neutral stance, while Smith went really all-in in support for the federal Conservative Party. So, the relationship with the federal government is challenged a bit by that."
Stewart said he believes the Liberals have shown support for the energy industry, pointing to the Trudeau government's $34 billion investment in the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. He warned that framing engagement with the federal government as involving a list of demands may undermine collaboration.
"It's not the case that the federal government has been unwilling to move to help the provincial government to some degree. So I think that part of this is politics rather than policy," he said.
Still, he said U.S. instability and trade concerns could represent a "unique opportunity" for collaboration.
"This is an opportunity to move forward that was not present in the prior years. And previously, it was simply the provincial government and the federal government, to a degree, at loggerheads," he said.
"Now, there's a third party that both the provincial government and the federal government have to deal with, so the situation is a little different than it's been in the past."
Stewart added he believes Carney appointing an Alberta MP to cabinet could help to smooth out the relationship.
"I think the step forward would be even greater if it was somebody from Calgary," he said.
Alberta to send 2 Liberals to Ottawa
Alberta remained solidly blue on election night, with the Conservative Party claiming all but three of the province's 37 ridings. The Liberals won in Edmonton Centre with Eleanor Olszewski and in Calgary Confederation with Corey Hogan, while the NDP won in Edmonton Strathcona with Heather McPherson.
Hogan, who defeated Conservative candidate Jeremy Nixon in Calgary, said he agreed that a "reset" between Alberta and Ottawa was a good idea.
"Let's work towards our common goals. And most of our goals are common, frankly. We quibble about the details, but the quibbling has become overwhelming," he said in an interview.
"Now, it's got to be about what we can do together to build as strong of a country as possible."
While Hogan said his primary role is to represent Calgary Confederation, he added he's also keen to be a pro-Alberta voice that's a strong voice for Canada.
"My role is showing what a western Liberal is and can be," he said.
"And that's somebody who's deeply connected to their community, who is interested in trying to build as good of a future for as many of us as possible, but also really cares about the economy and is very pragmatic in their approach."
Areas of jurisdiction
Still, frustration runs deep for some Albertans. One Edmonton caller to Alberta at Noon on Thursday said while he wasn't a separatist, he's long felt as though his province faces political obstruction, and wanted to consider what options might be best for his family.
Gary Mar, a former Alberta cabinet minister who is president and CEO of the Canada West Foundation, a public policy think-tank based in Calgary, said alienation with Liberal governments extends beyond Alberta's borders. He said similar sentiments are shared in other regions where resource-based industries are core to the economy.
Mar argued that much of the alienation stems from what he describes as federal overreach into areas of provincial jurisdiction.
"If you look at things like the emissions cap, that is really a cap on production. Well, that's not your jurisdiction in the federal government, it is the jurisdiction of provinces," Mar said.
Alberta has long held that the cap is a violation of the province's constitutional jurisdiction. Such provincial and federal standoffs tied to jurisdictional authority over emissions generated by Alberta's oilpatch have often landed in court.
Mar added that with around 85 per cent of Canadians voting for either the Liberals or Conservatives, certain policy planks shared by both parties appear to have won widespread popular support.
"It's a test of both [Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre] to see if they've got the best interests of Canada at heart," Mar said.
"But it has to start, in my view, with Prime Minister Carney coming out West, and understanding that provinces in areas of their jurisdiction, like natural resources, they're not just stakeholders, they are partners."
Carney's aim of "free trade by Canada Day" between provinces and territories is an example of an area where he could make progress, said pollster Brown.
"Those are some of the moves that Mark Carney can make very quickly to sort of calm the waters down here in Alberta, and it would be difficult for the premier to fight him on those things," she said.
Early signals encouraging, business leader says
Business leaders are also watching closely.
Adam Legge, president of the Business Council of Alberta, said Carney's early signals on energy are encouraging but optimism will last only if regulatory hurdles are addressed.
"The ambition is there, but it's got to be backed up with some quick action on what I would call the environment of the investment ambition. And then we can actually see things happen," Legge told Alberta at Noon.
Still, Legge said the business community was keen to work with Carney to understand his plans in-depth.
"It's some very positive signals out of the gate, from our perspective," he said.
Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, previously at the helm of many of the province's fights with Ottawa over energy and environmental policy, has been vocal for weeks about the evolving dynamic.
On Thursday, he wrote on X that Alberta had long "faced a government in Ottawa fundamentally hostile to our largest industry, one central to Canada's economy."
"While I join most Albertans in being disappointed with Monday's election results, let's hold PM Carney to his words about making Canada 'a global energy superpower,' deregulating to build big projects, including pipelines," he wrote.
"But if we turn inward in a pointless debate on the charade of separation, we will reverse that momentum.