After a tumultuous couple of months here at home, Premier David Eby will head to Yellowknife this week for the kind of event he typically excels at — navigating interprovincial politics on the national stage.
The premier will join his counterparts from Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories at the Western Premier’s Conference from May 21-22.
If history holds, you can expect some sort of standout moment from Eby at the event. He usually creates national waves, whether it was wearing an “I love heat pumps” shirt to criticize unfair federal funding at a premiers’ meeting last year, or signing on to Newfoundland and Labrador’s court case against Ottawa over equalization payments, or cutting a deal with Alberta to solve a wine dispute.
The premier is adept at finding ways to create news moments out of these summits. The expectation is he’ll find creative ways to do it again this week.
This particular Western Premiers’ Conference comes at an intriguing time.
Eby finds himself under fire by First Nations leaders who were not consulted and vow to oppose his Bill 15 legislation to fast-track major building projects. It’s the latest in a series of attempts to consolidate decision-making power away from the legislature and into his cabinet, which critics say shows contempt for democracy. He could use a narrative reset with a strong showing amongst his peers at the Western Premiers’ Conference.
Two other issues will loom large at the event: U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s demand for Ottawa to approve oil pipelines through British Columbia if her province is to stay part of confederation.
Fighting Trump is smack dab in Eby’s political wheelhouse.
He’s made international waves with his sharp criticisms of the president, his declaration that the tariffs amount to economic war and his appearances on Fox News in which he professed support for American people but said it’s like watching “a really good friend in a bad relationship.”
The expectation is he’ll throw a few haymakers again, under the national spotlight, as he accompanies his attacks with a call for national unity and the removal of interprovincial trade barriers.
There’s no political downside for Eby doing so. He’s swung harder at Trump than any other premier, except for Ontario’s Doug Ford. The issue has largely contributed to his high popularity numbers, at a time when his government is flailing on domestic issues like health care and affordability.
On pipelines, though, the B.C. premier will face a much more delicate path.
Eby has come out in support of the natural resource sector since almost losing the October provincial election. He’s encouraged new mines and LNG terminals to generate jobs, boost the provincial economy and address a $10-billion deficit.
But the BC NDP have never supported oil pipelines. Eby helped craft the province’s legal attacks against the Trans Mountain pipeline, forcing Ottawa to purchase the project and stave off its collapse in 2018. Since then, the idea of oil pipelines to B.C.’s coast has been a no-go zone for the NDP. The government has argued the environmental risks of an oil spill from a pipeline rupture or a tanker crash are too high.
Yet this new version of the NDP, which had its wings clipped by voters last year and has seized on economic growth as its salvation, may feel differently.
If Ottawa was to demand a new oil pipeline to the coast in the name of a national response to Trump, put money on the table, take the time to make Indigenous nations equity owners, plot the right course, with the right protections and the right economic benefits — would the BC NDP government still stand in the way? Unlikely.
Instead, this version of the Eby administration might use it as leverage for an enhanced energy trading corridor, more money for provincial programs and projects, and more control over coastal resources. All of which makes for an interesting exercise in watching B.C.’s response to Alberta’s pipeline posturing at this week’s premiers’ summit.
“Our province will be the engine of the new Canada, that is more independent, that is less reliant on the United States, and that faces boldly and confidently to the entire world,” Eby said last week.
“And we're excited about playing that role here. We look forward to working with the federal government on delivering that vision right here off the West Coast of Canada, and partnering with other provinces and territories to make that a reality.”
We’ll see if we get any closer to understanding how that might actually play out for British Columbia, when we watch our premier navigate the interprovincial dynamics in Yellowknife this week.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Lodestar Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
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