If you take Alberta’s “turn off the taps” bill at face value, it’s a remarkable bid by a government to take control of the province’s entire petroleum-distribution system.
If it is proclaimed law, any producer or shipper would need a new licence to move any oil product out of Alberta, be it natural gas, crude or refined fuels.
The energy minister would have authority to dictate details of any shipments, such as where they move from, how much of what product can move and by what mode. The minister could change the allowed volumes at any time and has immunity from any lawsuits. Breaching the licence requirements would bring a fine of $10 million a day.
Imagine bringing the Venezuela model to Wild Rose Country, and you get the picture. But there’s not likely to be much pushback from the oil companies, which would be surrendering most control over their product. The “Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Bill” is designed expressly for their benefit, by way of choking B.C. into submission to allow the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project to proceed.
The draconian impact of the legislation would fall entirely on B.C., just as promised during the past few weeks of sustained hostilities during the pipeline fight. Using the new licence powers, the Alberta government could play the gas pumps in Metro Vancouver like video games, jacking up the prices practically at will.
The bill is so flagrantly outside the legal bounds of the Constitution and various trade deals that it’s hard to imagine Premier Rachel Notley introducing it with a straight face.
It’s a measure of how profoundly serious this mess has gotten that she did just that. She looked deadly earnest Monday when it was slapped down on the order paper. Coming one day after the three-way meeting that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened with her and Premier John Horgan, it demonstrated what a flop that session was.
The prospect of the pipeline summit raised expectations unrealistically, when all it really amounted to was a chance to get a feel for how a national takeover of the whole enterprise at some later date might go over.
Horgan reacted on the fly in the B.C. legislature before seeing the bill, saying: “It is critically important that the government of Alberta act in a lawful manner.”
Recalling Alberta’s bid to ban B.C. wine, he said: “I’m very certain, once we review the legislation … we’ll find again that they are violating legal rules with respect to restricting access, unless they choose to reduce access to Saskatchewan and Manitoba and Ontario, as well. We’ll see how that goes.”
Attorney General David Eby later recalled the Notley cabinet’s explicit warnings they were going to inflict pain on B.C. “We know, as I’m sure they do, the Constitution forbids discrimination around energy between provinces … it’s in black and white.”
“If there’s anything in this legislation that even suggests discrimination against B.C., we’ll take every step necessary to protect B.C., because it will be completely illegal.”
The bill doesn’t actually mention “B.C.,” but the references to Alberta don’t leave much doubt about what it’s designed to do.
It refers to optimizing Alberta’s interests before authorizing export of oil products, and maximizing the value of energy resources.
When issuing the new licences, the minister is directed to consider whether there’s adequate pipeline capacity to maximize the return on diluted bitumen, and whether there are adequate supplies available for Alberta’s present and future needs.
That’s all the rationale the NDP government needs to stick it to a neighbouring NDP government. A minister can make whatever finding is needed to curtail movement of refined products, or shuffle shipments between rail and pipeline, or do whatever is necessary to get the B.C. pump-price indicators spinning like slot machines.
The only saving grace in Monday’s developments is that Notley said the bill will not be proclaimed immediately. She expressed some confidence that it won’t have to be used at all. Slamming it into effect depends on what happens at the May 31 deadline Kinder Morgan has set for a clear green light from B.C. on the project.
The hammer is poised and ready. The next six weeks will determine if it comes down, and how hard it lands.
