Alberta Premier Smith says meeting with PM Carney a ‘positive first step’

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she has had a positive meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The meeting is the first since Carney’s Liberals won Monday’s election and Smith warned the prime minister of any hostile acts” his new government might take against her province.

Smith says they had a lengthy conversation about policies and legislation that are holding back Alberta’s energy economy. She says fixing10 years of anti-resource legislation and policies” will take time, but the meeting was a “positive first step.”

Leading up to the election, Smith issued a list of demands for the next prime minister and pledged to strike a panel to ask Albertans what they would want if the Liberals won a fourth consecutive term.

Those demands included ending a number of policies put in place under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, such as Ottawa’s proposed emissions cap, that she says have done nothing but harm Alberta’s oil and gas sector.

Carney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.

Earlier this week, Smith offered her congratulations to Carney and the Liberals, but said the new minority government needs to immediately start working with the province to “reset the relationship” between Ottawa and Alberta “with meaningful action rather than hollow rhetoric.”

Smith’s government proposed legislation this week that would make it easier for citizens to call for a vote to secede from Canada, drawing heated condemnation from Indigenous leaders who warn it would violate treaties.