Longtime cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc insists Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government will set itself apart from that of former prime minister Justin Trudeau when it comes to relations with Alberta and Saskatchewan, despite plans to keep some divisive environmental policies.
LeBlanc — who as intergovernmental affairs minister oversees the relationship between the federal government and provinces — told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos that Carney is in “ongoing conversations” with the first ministers, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. Both premiers have expressed concerns about Liberal policies inhibiting their provinces’ economic success.
“The fact that he’s saying that we should collaborate in terms of the review approval process for large projects with provinces, one project, one review, not duplicating work that’s done by provinces, this is a significant departure from the previous government,” LeBlanc said, in an interview airing Sunday, when asked why Carney’s government is sticking with some divisive Trudeau-era policies. Namely, those include Bill C-69 and the emissions cap on the oil and gas sector.
“The prime minister has, I think, shown a great deal of understanding and openness to support the economy of these resource-intensive provinces,” LeBlanc added.
Carney has also “taken a constructive and positive tone with respect to Western Canadian resources and their importance to the Canadian economy,” LeBlanc said.
Since becoming prime minister in mid-March, Carney has promised to end interprovincial trade barriers, and to make Canada an “energy superpower.” Those pledges come while Canada remains in an ongoing trade war with the United States.
Carney also said during the election campaign he plans to keep two controversial Trudeau policies: the oil and gas sector emissions cap, which Smith has often said will curtail production in the sector, and Bill C-69, which many Conservatives have dubbed the “no more pipelines act.”
“I’m not surprised that different premiers from different political parties find policies of a Liberal government different than perhaps they would like,” LeBlanc told Kapelos. “The important thing is that we can have respectful, productive conversations with those governments, which is exactly what we’re doing.
Pressed by Kapelos on how keeping the emissions cap and C-69 can be reconciled with that message, Leblanc said “the final answer is far from defined.”
Asked whether Carney’s plan to get Canadian energy to new markets refers to conventional energy, specifically oil and gas, LeBlanc said the new prime minister “recognizes the importance of conventional energy in terms of the economic prosperity of the country.”
“We can do both. We can support a transition to less carbon-intensive forms of energy, but recognize that the world continues to need conventional oil and gas, and Canada should be a reliable, dependable supplier of those energy resources as well,” he said.
While Smith has commended Carney for what she called a “successful” meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. this week, the Alberta premier is still pushing for a reset of the provincial-federal relationship.
“It depends very much on whether we have pragmatic, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney as our prime minister, or whether we have environmental extremist, keep-it-in-the-ground, phase-out-fossil-fuels, author of the book ‘Values,’ Mark Carney as prime minister, and I don’t know the answer to that yet,” Smith said last week.
Of the 169 seats the Liberals won in the election, only three are in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
When pressed on how great a departure Carney’s policies will be from his predecessor’s, considering he plans to keep two of the most divisive ones, LeBlanc argued “some things” will take time, and the election was fewer than two weeks ago.
“The new government hasn’t been formed, in terms of a swearing-in of a new cabinet,” LeBlanc said. “Parliament will come back in a few weeks. There’ll be a Speech from the Throne delivered by His Majesty the King.”
“I understand the concern of people across the country with respect to those issues, but the government is at work,” he added. “The prime minister is very much conscious of those concerns, and we will be working through them with those provinces. But to say that we’ve landed on a final set of measures, or that previous government’s policies will not change in any way, I think is an oversimplification.”
Carney is set to unveil his new front bench on Tuesday, with the Speech from the Throne and the return to Parliament scheduled for later this month. Carney is also set to meet with all of Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers in person in early June.
LeBlanc in his interview also discussed this week’s high-stakes, first in-person meeting between Carney and Trump, categorizing the tete-a-tete as “cordial, respectful,” and “constructive.”
You can watch LeBlanc’s full interview on CTV’s Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. EDT.
