It couldn’t have gone better for Alberta Premier Alison Redford if she’d planned it. Which she didn’t.
The bizarre on-again, off-again, on-again nature of the meeting with B.C. Premier Christy Clark on Tuesday managed to inject some drama into what was likely going to be a run-of-the-mill discussion.
Not the drama of a Toronto mayor admitting he had smoked crack cocaine, mind you, nor the drama of Canada’s Senate suspending three members. But it had a drama all its own that caught the news media’s attention.
If Redford had simply gone to Vancouver, met with Clark and announced a “framework agreement,” the meeting would have been seen as a bit of a yawn. But everything became more interesting when Redford, already in Vancouver, suddenly cancelled the meeting and issued a news release complaining that “B.C. is seeking to negotiate additional benefits.”
Based on pre-meeting talks involving senior officials from both provinces, Redford thought she was about to be backed into a corner by Clark, who wanted Alberta’s help negotiating some kind of financial deal with Enbridge, owner of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.
Redford had said all along that if B.C. wanted to negotiate a deal with pipeline companies, B.C. would have to do it on its own. It wasn’t her job to get involved.
That’s why Redford cancelled the meeting.
Smelling blood in the water, reporters began circling. And then the story got more interesting when a little more than 12 hours later, the two premiers announced they in fact had met and had reached an agreement.
So what did they manage to achieve? In a practical sense, not much. Despite talk of a “pipeline deal,” there is no deal. They have worked out a “framework agreement” to move energy resources to new markets. It’s an agreement to work toward a deal. But even that’s misleading, because B.C. and Alberta can’t approve a trans-border pipeline. That can only be done by the federal cabinet.
Nevertheless, if anybody emerged a winner on Tuesday, it was Redford. Clark has agreed to be part of Redford’s Canadian Energy Strategy. Given that the strategy remains something ill-defined, it’s largely a symbolic victory, but Redford can at least say B.C. is onside.
And Redford gave up nothing. By agreeing to B.C.’s five conditions for a new pipeline, Redford is merely saying she agrees with B.C.’s right to protect its environment, consult with First Nations and negotiate with private pipeline companies. To top it off, B.C. has clearly said it is not asking for a share of Alberta’s royalties or taxes.
So given that B.C. doesn’t have the final say on approving a pipeline and given that Redford is agreeing to conditions that don’t affect Alberta, why did she bother with this at all?
Well, in the words of one Alberta official: “It gets B.C. off our backs.”
For the past year, B.C. has been acting as if the Northern Gateway pipeline is being built by the Alberta government, not the private company Enbridge. If nothing else, the new framework agreement makes it clear B.C. understands that when it comes to discussing its five conditions, it should be talking to Enbridge or the federal government or First Nations. Not Alberta.
Alberta simply wants to talk to B.C. about their common goal of “moving energy resources to new markets.” It’s a goal as warm and fuzzy and ill-defined as the Canadian Energy Strategy.
Redford is all smiles for another reason. The drama surrounding Tuesday’s on-again, off-again meeting was good news personally for Redford.
It showed that she’s not easily bluffed or bullied. Instead of bending to B.C.’s demands or even trying to negotiate a compromise, she was prepared to cancel the meeting and suffer a public relations embarrassment.
Redford knew that if she agreed to help B.C. negotiate a financial deal with oil companies on Northern Gateway, other provinces would want similar favours on the Energy East pipeline.
Redford held firm and got an agreement that was a hailed as a political victory, and it cost her nothing.
Tuesday’s framework agreement might not clear the way for Northern Gateway, but it will make it easier for the federal cabinet to give the green light.
And it means Redford can go to Washington, D.C., next week to lobby for the Keystone XL pipeline with a weight off her shoulders.
She’s got B.C. off her back.
