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Edmonton Journal

Lorne Gunter: Smith lays groundwork for success at premier's council

Article content What did Premier Danielle Smith achieve at the Council of the Federation in cottage country north of Toronto? A lot of significant groundwork for an expansion of the province's economy, perhaps even with the province in control, not Ottawa. Article content Smith didn't get invited to the famous late-night gab session between Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney, where the two sat up until all hours 'solving all the world's problems.' Article content Article content Article content While Ford and Carney launched their summer-stock revival of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple at the Ford Family Muskoka Playhouse (with Carney as Felix and Ford as Oscar), Smith added another premier to her effort to get pipelines and ports built and increase trade within Canada. Article content Saskatchewan's Scott Moe signed on to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that both Smith and Ford signed earlier this month when Ford came west to flip pancakes at the Calgary Stampede. Article content Admittedly, Moe is as pro-oil and pipeline, and Ottawa-skeptic, as Smith. Getting him to sign couldn't have been hard. Indeed, an Alberta government source tells me Moe was willing to sign the same day as Ford. After all, he was in Calgary, too, flapping jacks along side his Alberta and Ontario counterparts at Smith's annual Stampede breakfast. But someone in our premier's office came up the astute idea of having Moe hold off a couple of weeks, so when he did sign it would look as the MOU was gaining momentum. Article content Article content The same source tells me Smith is now working on Manitoba's Wab Kinew for even more momentum and a solid block of support from the B.C.-Alberta border to the Ontario-Quebec line. Article content The thinking is that if B.C. never removes its objections to a West Coast pipeline and Quebec can't be convinced to support a pipeline across that province to East Coast refineries and ports, then maybe the central provinces can agree to a line from the Alberta and Saskatchewan oilfields to either Manitoba's Port of Churchill or Ontario's Moosonee or Fort Severn. Neither Ontario site at present has port facilities nor a rail line. Churchill has both. Article content Frankly, I prefer when the premier of Ontario and the PM are suspicious of one another. It makes me feel Alberta is safer. When Ford and Carney get chummy, I start to wonder whether Alberta should hunker down and wait for a storm.