A crisis in search of a cause: Smith brandishes unity issue in dangerous new pipeline gambit

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made it clear she would see anything but a go-ahead from Ottawa as a powerful accelerant for the smouldering Alberta separatist movement.

Asking the Liberals to scrap one of their signature environmental policies is just a political stunt, but Alberta Premier Danielle Smith seems to see her move as a win-win, writes Les Whittington.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY LES WHITTINGTON

October 8, 2025

OTTAWA—If Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s demand that somebody build her a pipeline—somewhere, somehow—to the Pacific Ocean wasn’t enough, Jason Kenney’s rhetorical hit job on reluctant British Columbia Premier David Eby brought interprovincial relations to a ne...

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