Close X
Friday, November 1, 2024
ADVT 
National

Jason Kenney Talks Pipelines With Trudeau After Election Win, Calls It Cordial

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 18 Apr, 2019 09:13 PM

    EDMONTON — Jason Kenney, Alberta's incoming premier, said he cordially talked pipelines Wednesday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — Kenney's political nemesis and his election campaign pinata — and said the plan is to meet soon for a one-on-one.


    "He called to offer his congratulations. We spoke for about 15 minutes," Kenney said outside Alberta's legislature building.


    "We had a respectful conversation about a number of issues, including the need to get Canadian energy to foreign markets."


    Kenney said he and Trudeau will try to meet shortly after Kenney and his new United Conservative government are sworn in on April 30.


    It was a much anticipated conversation, given that Kenney successfully leveraged voter dissatisfaction with Trudeau in Alberta's election, painting NDP Premier Rachel Notley as a weak enabler of federal energy policies he says are undermining its oil and gas sector.


    On Tuesday, Kenney's United Conservatives won a strong majority government over Notley's NDP, reducing core NDP support to mainly the city of Edmonton.


    Kenney and Notley have attacked the federal Liberals on proposed legislation, including a tanker ban on the northern B.C. coast and Bill C-69.


    Bill C-69, now before the Senate, creates new approval rules for energy projects, which Kenney calls an unconstitutional power grab on areas of provincial authority.


    The Kenney-Trudeau nexus is expected to play a pivotal role as the UCP work to implement its core campaign promise to create more jobs and grow the oil and gas sector.


    Kenney has promised to fight Bill C-69 in court. He will also go to court to try to stop the federal government from imposing a carbon tax on Alberta once his UCP follows through next month on its promise to repeal the Alberta-made carbon levy.


    Kenney, a former federal cabinet minister under Stephen Harper, has said the mere existence of Trudeau in power threatens Alberta's economic prospects and has said he will do whatever he can to see Trudeau defeated in the fall election.


    The fight is also personal. Almost a year ago, Kenney, in a newspaper interview, dismissed Trudeau as a dilettante and a lightweight.


    "I know Justin. He doesn't have a clue what he’s doing. This guy is an empty trust-fund millionaire who has the political depth of a finger bowl,” Kenney said at the time.


    Kenney said Wednesday that the plan, for now, is to be positive.


    "We will begin with the path of diplomacy and try to find common ground," he said.


    "We hope that we don't need to use more forceful measures to assert Alberta's vital economic interests."


    Kenney also won the election on a promise to be more forceful with other provinces, saying that Albertans feel its neighbours are happy to share in the bounty of Alberta's oil wealth while opposing measures like pipelines to help it grow.


    In Quebec, Premier Francois Legault congratulated Kenney on his electoral victory Wednesday but said all parties in Quebec's legislature still oppose any new oil pipelines.


    Kenney said he also wants to start on a positive note with Legault, but added: "We don't think it's reasonable for other provinces, like Quebec, to take our equalization money while opposing pipeline projects that can help us pay the bills."


    Kenney has said that the first day of his government will see him proclaim into law a bill passed by Notley's legislature allowing Alberta to reduce oil flows to B.C. if B.C. continues to thwart the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline to take more Alberta oil to the West Coast.


    He said he plans to recall the legislature in the third week of May.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Canadian Astronaut David Saint-Jacques To Make First Spacewalk Next Monday

    MONTREAL — Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques is scheduled to perform his first spacewalk next Monday, venturing outside the International Space Station alongside NASA colleague Anne McClain.    

    Canadian Astronaut David Saint-Jacques To Make First Spacewalk Next Monday

    Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For Shooting Woman In The Head In Her Home

    Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For Shooting Woman In The Head In Her Home
    An Ontario man who shot a woman in the head several times in her apartment and left her body to decompose there has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

    Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For Shooting Woman In The Head In Her Home

    Rcmp In B.C. Ready To Unveil A New Strategy In Search For Accused Murderer

    SURREY, B.C. — Police in British Columbia are preparing to announce a new strategy in the search for a wanted man.

    Rcmp In B.C. Ready To Unveil A New Strategy In Search For Accused Murderer

    Family Of Wendy Ladner-Beaudry Marks Anniversary Of Vancouver Woman's Murder

    Family Of Wendy Ladner-Beaudry Marks Anniversary Of Vancouver Woman's Murder
    SURREY, B.C. — The family of a woman found murdered in a southwest Vancouver park is making another appeal to the public on the tenth anniversary of her death.    

    Family Of Wendy Ladner-Beaudry Marks Anniversary Of Vancouver Woman's Murder

    Quebec Mother Found Guilty In Deaths Of Daughters To Appeal Verdict

    Quebec Mother Found Guilty In Deaths Of Daughters To Appeal Verdict
    MONTREAL — A Quebec mother convicted in the killings of her two young daughters will appeal the guilty verdicts.

    Quebec Mother Found Guilty In Deaths Of Daughters To Appeal Verdict

    Ontario Police Bust International Drug Ring, Seize 55 Kilos Of Cocaine

    Police in Ontario say they've busted an international cocaine smuggling operation with links to Mexico and the United States after a large drug seizure at the border.

    Ontario Police Bust International Drug Ring, Seize 55 Kilos Of Cocaine