Redford, Clark make little progress at 'frosty' meeting

Alberta Premier Alison Redford met with B.C. Premier Christy Clark on Monday over the Northern Gateway oil pipeline project, and both women agreed the meeting was unproductive and “frosty.”

“Well, I'm an Albertan and when you talk about sharing Alberta's royalties with other jurisdictions, things tend to get a little bit frosty,” said Redford.

Clark is in Calgary this week and spoke with Redford about the five conditions B.C. says needs to be met before the province will support Enbridge's bid to build the pipeline. The project would run from the Alberta oilsands across B.C. to the port of Kitimat.

“We’re about the environment and there is no price that can be put on protecting our environment in British Columbia — there is none,” said Clark on Monday.

“We’ve set out the conditions. We’ve said that we have to have the world’s best spill response on land and on the ocean. If we can get those — and if this passes the environmental review — then we can talk about the last one, the fifth. But, until we get those first three settled and done, this project can’t go ahead.”

The fifth condition is royalties. Clark said Monday that that is the last and least important of all the conditions.

Redford, however, said that she agrees with Clark on the first four conditions, saying the project must lead on environment.

The Alberta premier then reiterated that she would not budge on the issue of royalties. Redford said it’s now up to Clark on how the project could generate revenue, and said she is open to hearing new ideas.

Clark said that while the project is important for Canada, it’s not a big deal for B.C. because the province has other booming industries, like natural gas.

Clark is scheduled to speak to public policy students at the University of Calgary on Tuesday.