Western Standard - Smith and Ford unveil Alberta-to-Ontario pipeline plan [FULL ANNOUNCEMENT]

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone, and thank you so much for joining us today.

00:00:03.160 It is such a pleasure to be here with my friend and colleague, Ontario Premier Doug Ford,

00:00:08.040 to take the next step in making Canada an energy superpower.

00:00:11.740 I'm also pleased to be joined by several of our ministers, Minister Brian Jean, Minister Rajan Zani,

00:00:17.080 Minister Joseph Gow, and Minister Devin Drushin, who will all have a role in light as we flesh out this project.

00:00:23.840 I also want to recognize Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham,

00:00:27.680 who's also in the room with us today.

00:00:29.140 It's so great to have you here with us.

00:00:31.120 I'll bring you a little bit.

00:00:32.440 Guys, that would be great.

00:00:34.780 We're going to be standing now.

00:00:35.920 We're going to be next to having me.

00:00:37.400 Nice to see you.

00:00:38.920 But I have also said many times that Alberta's aim

00:00:41.300 is to double our oil production in the next 10 to 15 years

00:00:44.240 and to diversify our export markets.

00:00:46.520 And that means not only reaching global customers,

00:00:49.040 but ensuring Canadians can benefit from our resources

00:00:51.600 here at home.

00:00:52.480 All Canadians deserve a stable, secure, reliable energy

00:00:55.520 supply.

00:00:56.360 Alberta is ready to provide that stability and be the heart of a more energy sovereign

00:01:00.780 and economically resilient Canada.

00:01:03.240 And that vision is already taking shape as we've worked to make up for a lost decade

00:01:06.820 of anti-energy policies from a previous federal administration in Ottawa.

00:01:11.120 After signing an agreement last year to work together with Alberta and Saskatchewan to

00:01:15.600 build new pipelines through an economic corridor from Alberta to Ontario, the government of

00:01:20.480 Ontario is here today to unveil the potential route for a new 3,300-kilometer

00:01:25.920 oil pipeline from Hardesty, Alberta to Sarnia, Ontario. Known as the Northern

00:01:30.800 Shield Energy Corridor, this project would pave the way for Alberta's

00:01:34.040 barrier-free access to domestic refineries and markets in eastern Canada.

00:01:38.600 A new east-west pipeline would move an additional 500,000 barrels of Alberta

00:01:44.240 oil per day, with the potential for a future expansion of up to 800,000

00:01:49.040 per day. Energy security is essential for all countries, as we all know, and this new corridor

00:01:55.180 will include the concept of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, that will store vital Alberta oil

00:02:01.900 reserves in the Sarnia refinery area to ensure key refined products like diesel, jet fuel, and

00:02:08.280 gasoline are uninterrupted. There is also an opportunity to eventually use this corridor to

00:02:13.360 reach the Atlantic Ocean, which would allow Alberta to provide reliable energy to our nation's

00:02:18.040 European allies. This project will make Canada stronger. By connecting Alberta's energy with

00:02:23.500 Canadian refineries and European markets, we can create jobs for our economy and make the most out

00:02:29.260 of the world-class resources that we've been blessed with. Now that a potential route has been

00:02:34.720 identified, the government of Ontario is commencing work to estimate costs and examine commercial

00:02:40.420 models and related development opportunities for the energy corridor. This pipeline is another

00:02:45.480 signal to investors that canada is once again open for business and the best country on earth

00:02:51.560 from which to secure a reliable source of energy we have so much to celebrate with this and this

00:02:57.080 the announcement from last week regarding the west coast pipeline as well and our government

00:03:02.280 is supporting producers with added incentives to ensure adequate supplies of oil going west

00:03:07.960 and east for this vital proposed project in the space of about a year look at how canada's public

00:03:13.560 opinion has changed has done a 180 on energy in a poll this week almost 70 percent of ontario

00:03:19.720 residents support new or expanded pipelines and albert is here to support the needs of ontario

00:03:25.000 and all of canada with energy and in support of a stronger economy job growth and prosperity for

00:03:30.680 decades to come pipelines have gone from impossible to a national imperative the albertus oil sense

00:03:37.160 have gone from a target to a national treasure and we're launching the greatest expansion of

00:03:41.800 oil and gas infrastructure and production in decades. Alberta is ready to work with

00:03:46.040 our provincial and federal counterparts, indigenous partners, and industry leaders

00:03:49.960 to advance this proposed pipeline and energy corridor. I'm so grateful to Premier Ford,

00:03:54.760 Premier Mo, and the respective governments for being fantastic allies and friends to Alberta.

00:03:59.320 And with that, I'd like to ask Premier Ford to take over and say a few words.

00:04:02.200 First of all, thank you so much, Premier, and what a wonderful host you are.

00:04:13.880 You're a wonderful host every year I come here, and we're just so grateful to have an

00:04:19.320 incredible relationship, not only between myself and Premier Smith, but all the Premiers, and

00:04:27.080 And, Premier Wiggum, thank you for joining the team.

00:04:31.180 We have a great team in Canada, and you're a great asset.

00:04:34.240 Well, first of all, good morning, everyone, and it's a pleasure to be back in beautiful Alberta,

00:04:38.720 here with my good friends, as I mentioned, Premier Daniel Smith and Premier Tony Wiggum.

00:04:45.920 Along with Ontario Ministers Lecce, Oussaraf, Amid, P.A.'s Boma, Sorello, and Grudwell,

00:04:53.380 as well as Alberta Ministers Drishan, Jean and Sahini.

00:04:59.100 Sorry buddy, I owe you lunch for saying that.

00:05:02.540 I come to Toronto, I'll take you guys out.

00:05:06.900 Exactly one year ago, Premier Smith and I signed a historic agreement

00:05:12.060 that laid out a plan to build new energy and trade infrastructure

00:05:16.380 to move western oil and gas to refineries in southern Ontario

00:05:21.300 and sent Ontario's critical minerals to new ports in Western Canada,

00:05:27.140 helping to build a true end-to-end critical mineral and energy supply chain.

00:05:32.640 Our government was elected with a mandate to build the most competitive,

00:05:37.740 most resilient, the most self-reliant economy in the G7.

00:05:41.680 We're delivering on our mandate by staying laser-focused on what we can control here at home.

00:05:48.540 We're cutting red tape to a tune of $1.3 billion, streamlining approvals, leading a

00:05:55.540 wholesale reform of government permitting, and lowering taxes and fees.

00:06:00.540 I always say I've never raised a tax, we've reduced them by $12 billion.

00:06:03.540 I will never ever raise a tax.

00:06:06.540 We're diversifying our trading partners, breaking down internal trade barriers, and

00:06:11.540 training the next generation of workers for the jobs of the future.

00:06:15.540 We are unlocking the enormous economic potential of Ontario's vast supply of critical minerals,

00:06:23.540 with shovels now in the ground to build the roads to the Ring of Fire five years ahead

00:06:29.040 of schedule.

00:06:30.040 We are building the future of nuclear energy with the first small modular reactors in the

00:06:35.540 G7 and the first large-scale nuclear facilities in decades.

00:06:40.820 If there is one thing we can all agree on, it's this.

00:06:45.080 We need to take action now to protect Canadian jobs and Canadian families.

00:06:50.680 We need to move quicker, faster, immediate.

00:06:53.880 That is why I'm thrilled to be here today making progress on our agreement from last

00:06:59.340 year as we unveil the route for the Northern Shield Energy Corridor.

00:07:05.000 The Northern Shield Energy Corridor will include a new pipeline built using Canadian steel

00:07:11.320 by Canadian workers that will bring oil from Haunted City, Alberta to new and expanded

00:07:17.600 refineries in Sarnia, Ontario, including Sarnia's vital energy and shipping routes.

00:07:24.540 The Northern Shield Energy Corridor would move on an estimated half a million barrels

00:07:29.400 of oil per day, with the ability to expand to 800,000 barrels per day, bringing new capacity

00:07:36.120 to Ontario refineries and delivering critical redundancy for existing pipelines while creating

00:07:43.000 good-paying jobs for Canadian workers along with the entire route. The Northern Shield Energy

00:07:49.080 Corridor will create new opportunities for Indigenous people including equity partnerships,

00:07:55.480 job training and community investments. I was thrilled to hear from Premier Smith announced

00:08:01.160 last week our government's plan to double oil sales production there's no place i'd rather bring

00:08:08.120 some of that oil than right here in alberta shipping it over to ontario through the northern

00:08:14.680 shield energy corridor to fuel our province's economic growth and help create new opportunities

00:08:21.400 for alberta workers it's a win win win a win for ontario a win for alberta and a win for all of

00:08:28.760 Canada. While today is an exciting milestone, there's still a lot of work ahead of us to deliver

00:08:35.080 on the Northern Shield Energy Corridor. Ontario will continue to advance its feasibility study,

00:08:41.080 including by exploring new existing port options for pipeline extensions and potential strategic

00:08:48.280 petroleum reserve. We'll define estimated costs, explore commercial options, and engage further

00:08:55.880 with potential private sector partners. We've launched and will honor our duty to consult

00:09:01.640 with Indigenous communities. This new route will also provide Government of Manitoba

00:09:08.120 and the Manitoba Crown Indigenous Corporation with the opportunity to explore the feasibility

00:09:14.280 of a pipeline extension to the Port of Churchill. The Northern Shield Energy Corridor is a critical

00:09:21.400 next step in building a more united more prosperous and more resilient canada it's a change chance to

00:09:29.160 create good paying jobs that will bring our country together and it's a chance to make our

00:09:35.640 country and our continent safer or more secure i look forward to working with premier smith

00:09:41.800 and all my premiers to get this done. Thank you, and God bless the people of Candace.

00:09:50.600 Thank you, premiers. We'll now go to our immediate Q&A portions. We'll take one question,

00:10:00.040 one follow-up, and a reminder to reporters in the room to please say your name before

00:10:03.640 asking a question with our media might just on the side here yeah the arms are

00:10:07.800 around the development going to our first question mate go ahead yeah emigrating with

00:10:13.080 the globe and mail um first question off the bat i mean who are you planning and this is probably

00:10:17.720 for premier afford where he gets his breath yeah who are you planning is going to pay for this

00:10:24.040 multi multi-billion dollar project do you think we're private people public do you have any

00:10:28.200 companies in mind well we'll look up uh that's where we're doing the feasibility study

00:10:33.400 we'll reach out to the private sector but we won't hesitate to do what the government of

00:10:38.600 Canada and Alberta is doing. So let's take a look at all options and once we have an answer and we

00:10:46.520 will have this time by the end of the year then we'll be able to give you a straighter answer.

00:10:50.600 So you're open, sorry, Premier, Premier Smith, sorry.

00:10:53.640 Well you see I think the thing to remember about pipelines is they're an excellent

00:10:57.400 investment that's why we have underwritten pipeline purchases and an equity stake for

00:11:02.440 first nations because they they are revenue generating projects and so ultimately who pays

00:11:07.800 for them is the people who use them the shippers that pay through tolls and we've already seen that

00:11:12.200 with the trans mountain pipeline yeah the federal government did front the money but they're now

00:11:15.960 earning 1.2 billion dollars per year to pay it back and that's why it's a it's a bit of a different

00:11:20.840 type of infrastructure question than whether you're you're building public infrastructure

00:11:24.840 because it is a revenue generating business and so i'm looking forward i i always hope that we

00:11:29.320 we can have private partners come forward on this because that also allows

00:11:32.320 us to have the market discipline but I'm pretty cool that the premier Ford is

00:11:36.580 willing to look at all the options I just want to clarify and then I do have

00:11:39.880 a follow-up to clarify you're open to it being paid for by taxpayer dollars well

00:11:45.340 we're going to do that feasibility study then we'll be able to go from there but

00:11:48.340 I think it's a great investment no matter if it's the government that will

00:11:53.020 get a good ROI over a certain period of time I always prefer looking at private

00:11:58.780 sector investing and I think it's going to be an incredible project folks this

00:12:03.700 is a historic announcement that no one would ever think in a hundred years this

00:12:09.540 would be done with a great leadership of the Premier Smith ready to get this

00:12:15.640 agreement moving forward and it's going to benefit everyone it's going to

00:12:19.660 benefit Ontarians, Albertans and most importantly everyone from coast to coast

00:12:24.540 to coast so that's what we're focused on it's going to create thousands and

00:12:28.360 thousands of great paying jobs and we have to focus on our economy we have to

00:12:32.860 make sure we're self-reliant self-sufficient on everything no matter

00:12:36.520 this great Alberta oil coming to Ontario or critical minerals being shipped out

00:12:43.240 west and around the world or great nuclear capabilities folks we are an

00:12:49.460 economic powerhouse around the world and now we have to unleash that powerhouse

00:12:55.100 Make sure that everyone in the world, we can ship where it is oil, Ontario's nuclear, and the critical minerals.

00:13:05.240 Not to mention our good friend Scott Moe, that he had a run, I love the guy.

00:13:09.860 Look at potash, look at uranium that he's delivering.

00:13:13.860 So it's a Team Canada approach, and we need to make sure that we get government out of the way, support when we can, but let's start moving.

00:13:24.180 This is a race first out of the gate, basically, and we plan, Team Canada plans on making sure we're first out of the gate.

00:13:33.060 And my follow-up here, and speaking of Team Canada, have you spoken with Premier Canoe about this?

00:13:37.580 How does he feel about it, and how do you envisage a kind of Arctic gateway situation?

00:13:42.440 Because that was going to go kind of through the north, and this is very much now, so it would make that a lot more expensive.

00:13:47.000 Well, I think the world of Premier Canoe, I've said it a hundred times, I think the guy's a champion.

00:13:51.520 He has to consult a little more with his folks in Manitoba, but we'll work something out, and I'm 100% behind

00:13:59.520 putting a pipeline up to Churchill and getting an icebreaker and start delivering it around the world

00:14:06.520 so we can continue to be an energy powerhouse.

00:14:10.520 Thank you. Go ahead.

00:14:11.520 Chris Farmer with the Calgary Herald. Two-fold question for your Premier Ford.

00:14:15.520 First off, what are the next steps and the timelines, and then secondly, if everything went according to your plans, how quickly might you be able to get this pipeline built?

00:14:25.520 Well, first of all, we're communicating with 77 indigenous communities, which play an absolute critical role in this, and we're going to do this feasibility study.

00:14:35.140 We'll be docked out before the end of this year, and then we'll be able to roll it out.

00:14:39.720 We've already put a plan together where the pipeline, we've been actually working on this for over the last year and we have some real, real experts in the province that put a pipeline route all the way through Ontario, from Alberta, through Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the approval of obviously Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

00:15:04.520 I'm sorry, do you have a timeline of when it might actually be built?

00:15:07.120 I'll have a better idea once we do this feasibility study, but we are going to hold back, we're going to go full steam ahead.

00:15:13.460 We have great steel companies in Ontario, and I understand, so does Saskatchewan, so does Manitoba, so we're all going to pitch in, but we have to make sure it's Canadian steel.

00:15:24.840 And a follow-up here for Premier Smith. Premier, you've got already in the works 1.2 million barrels a day with some of the expansions that have already been announced.

00:15:32.320 Then you've got an additional 1 million barrel a day pipeline that will go to the West Coast if it gets built.

00:15:37.320 Now you're talking about an additional 500 to 800,000 barrels a day on top of that.

00:15:42.320 How is the industry going to fill it, and do you think there's actually going to be a demand for this much capacity?

00:15:48.320 Well, I think we have to look at the time frame.

00:15:50.320 I mean, I've said that we wanted to double oil and gas production over 10 to 15 years.

00:15:55.320 And so when you think of when I made that promise, we were at 3.7 million barrels per day in production, we're at 5 million barrels per day right now.

00:16:03.320 If you look at all of the projects that had at previous points been approved and gone through permitting, but stopped because we didn't have pipeline access, that comes up to about 2 million barrels a day right there.

00:16:14.320 I've talked to a number of different companies already.

00:16:16.320 Every time I meet a producer, I say, what is your current production and how quickly could you expand?

00:16:23.320 found and there's some examples I could give you so I got that question to

00:16:26.560 Imperial and they said they have 450,000 in production they have the capacity to

00:16:31.240 go to 900,000 I asked the question we look at Blackrod as well they launched

00:16:36.040 with 37,000 Greenfield with PersagD they have the ability to go up to 80,000

00:16:40.960 talked to another oil science producer they said that they have a 300,000 site

00:16:45.560 could go up to 700,000 so that's only three companies so I think that if you

00:16:49.660 look at how we stage it, if we get the incentives right, we get the environment right to do

00:16:54.660 new greenfield development over 10, 15 years, I have absolute confidence that we'll be able

00:16:59.100 to do it. Remember, we are one of the largest reserves on the planet. We've got 177 billion

00:17:04.100 barrels of recoverable reserves of today's technology. About 1.8 trillion barrels of

00:17:09.220 oil in place. So I think we've got to think big. And we thought I'd be looking at being

00:17:13.320 one of the top three energy producers and exporters in the world.

00:17:19.660 I'm Felix from Radio Canada. About oil transiting through this potential future pipeline, will it mostly be for domestic use or exportation?

00:17:32.660 Well, we use about 400,000 barrels a day, and if we bring in 500,000, well, hopefully

00:17:41.200 we have some reserves for a rainy day, but wouldn't it be great, folks, if we could bring

00:17:48.000 this pipeline with across the country, right over to Irving?

00:17:51.540 I think that would be absolutely beautiful.

00:17:54.060 It would be beautiful for the East Coast provinces, and it would be beautiful for the people of

00:18:00.660 Quebec as well, but that's up to them.

00:18:02.160 i'm going to focus on ontario and building this pipeline to ontario then it's up to the elected

00:18:07.760 officials uh east of ontario to make that decision and i'll just say we already do take oil up the

00:18:15.200 seaway from line nine and it gets refined to be back and so this is an opportunity for us to

00:18:20.880 support uh quebec with existing infrastructure and we'll be looking at seeing whether or not

00:18:26.080 those ships can make it up and over and go to eastern canada to feed those refineries and

00:18:31.040 whether we'd be able to go on to Europe so I think that regardless of whether we get additional

00:18:35.840 pipeline built we do have the now access and with additional capacity we'd be able to to

00:18:41.520 increase our exports to uh to come back to eastern as well so the pipeline through like that goes

00:18:47.760 towards the west coast have like like capture like carbon capture uh plants and then into it

00:18:54.800 is it the same thing same thing here or is it not this idea the agreement that we had with the

00:18:59.440 federal government and partnering on the west coast pipeline which is our priority and i think

00:19:03.120 we're both very keen to get to get that to market very quickly we're a little we're quite a bit more

00:19:08.240 advanced on that one since we have a project design we've got a private proponent who's come

00:19:12.640 forward we've got the federal government willing to partner with us um the the we have heard from

00:19:18.080 the federal government that they wanted to link those two uh we had the the pathways project

00:19:22.400 linked with that west coast pipeline and so we're going to to be committed to continuing along that

00:19:26.720 path and remember the pathways project has three parts to it one part is the carbon capture trunk

00:19:32.160 line but the other part is best available technology and whether that's a nuclear or

00:19:37.760 geothermal that allows us to decarbonize that's going to be available to any operator once once

00:19:42.880 those uh once those types of technologies are mature and once we've built the intertimes between

00:19:48.240 us and saskatchewan so i would say that there's going to be an opportunity to decarbonize all of

00:19:52.720 our barrels once we start moving down that pathway in the coming years. Thank you very much.

00:19:59.440 Angelica has several news. Premier Smith, the Selvo pipeline to the U.S. is fully subscribed.

00:20:05.520 It has signed contracts with so many oil producers it will be full for the next 20 years.

00:20:10.240 The Cardi pipeline project has no customers signed up. Isn't it obvious that no one in the industry

00:20:15.200 actually believes this is going to be built? Certainly not enough to put their own money into

00:20:19.200 it well thanks for the nice neutral question i would say it's a good premature to make that point

00:20:27.280 i think that what we've done with our west coast pipeline is announced an intention for the federal

00:20:31.760 and provincial government to work together we've got a private proponent we have to make sure that

00:20:35.440 we can get all of the indigenous consultation and ownership state make sure that we do the

00:20:40.960 environmental approvals and i have absolute confidence with the conversations that we've

00:20:45.440 been having with the pathways crew that we will get those commitments remember you can start a

00:20:49.600 pipeline and with a smaller amount going through it and then you can do compression just like we're

00:20:54.000 seeing with the trans mountain pipeline they began with a little bit of a smaller volume but they're

00:21:00.160 also increasing now up to 300 000 barrels i think it's our job to make sure that we can expand the

00:21:06.000 industry by two million barrels so not only can we fill the south bow line we can fill the west

00:21:10.160 coastline we can fill our new northern what we're calling yours north shield northern shield our

00:21:19.520 new northern shield pipeline uh and uh and also uh be able to serve north south east west i mean

00:21:26.640 this is the the whole point of what we were trying to do in building an economic corridor

00:21:30.160 so i think it was a great project we have to remember a few years ago we were talking about

00:21:34.320 projects in all direction you know northern gateway keystone and energy east and for various reasons

00:21:39.360 for each of them because of regulatory uncertainty or because of permits being cancelled they ended

00:21:45.040 up all stalling so this is uh resurrecting all three of those concepts uh perhaps on

00:21:50.160 different quarters with some different partners but i feel like the industry was there

00:21:54.000 10 years ago they can be there again this is my follow-up for prima ford we saw pictures

00:21:58.800 of you campaigning at the calgary stampede are you trying to shore up support to challenge pier

00:22:03.120 I'm going to use it with the Toronto media, this is like a church picnic compared to the

00:22:14.120 Toronto media.

00:22:15.120 But anyways, I wasn't campaigning, people asked for pictures, so I took pictures.

00:22:20.120 There were a lot of pictures, I'll tell you that.

00:22:22.120 But I love the people of Alberta, we share the same values, and we just have a great

00:22:27.120 relationship with our premier and the folks here in Alberta.

00:22:30.120 I love it here, actually.

00:22:32.120 Thank you. We have time for one, maybe two more questions.

00:22:36.120 Hi, I'm Rick Sarley, CC News. Are you planning to send this project to the Major Projects Office?

00:22:43.120 We're talking to the Major Projects Office. We had a meeting yesterday.

00:22:49.120 You know, Don's an extremely, extremely brave person. Oh my goodness.

00:22:54.120 And we just hit it off when we had a chat, so we're going to be working hand in hand with her office.

00:23:01.120 And is there an essential timeline on that?

00:23:04.120 We're doing it right now, actually. We're working alongside with them.

00:23:08.120 So we're going to keep digging deep and crossing the T's, nodding the I's, and making sure it's a feasible project, which we believe it will be.

00:23:17.120 We have to be self-sufficient. We can't rely on anyone else. We have all the tools in the toolbox right across our country.

00:23:24.120 Let's unleash those, you know, our economic strength and create more.

00:23:29.060 This is all about creating Canadian jobs and Canadian families and putting people to work with great-paying jobs.

00:23:37.040 I always say a better job with a bigger paycheck.

00:23:41.880 And we have time for one last question.

00:23:43.880 Go ahead.

00:23:44.420 Are we doing one?

00:23:45.180 Oh, sorry.

00:23:46.340 And mine's not pipeline-related.

00:23:47.820 Okay. So just given the fact that the water issue, the question isn't going to be asked,

00:23:57.820 you got rejected by elections. Alberta, where do we go from here? What do you have to say to that?

00:24:01.820 Well, you know, I want to thank everyone for participating in the citizen initiative process.

00:24:06.820 It does always give an opportunity for those who care passionately on an issue to share their views with the public

00:24:12.820 and also share their views with government. I've had a chance to meet with Mr. Lund,

00:24:16.820 And I told him that if his petition was not successful, let's work together on addressing some of the concerns that have been raised.

00:24:23.140 We've already addressed them in substantive ways.

00:24:25.540 We've purchased leases and freehold for over 40,000 hectares in this target area in response to the fact that people want these landscapes to stay pristine.

00:24:36.300 We have also banned mountaintop removal and open pit mining on future developments so that we can make sure that we don't end up with potential selenium problems like we've seen elsewhere.

00:24:45.260 And we're also mandating that you have to use the best available technology when it comes to water management.

00:24:51.520 Some of that includes underground mines, which is the case for the Valero project.

00:24:55.280 So we know that this has been an issue for some time.

00:24:58.220 We've responded to it through the various policies that we have.

00:25:01.940 There may be more that we can do, but we'll continue to have that conversation.

00:25:05.920 Great.

00:25:06.780 And then this one.

00:25:07.880 Yeah.

00:25:08.200 What?

00:25:09.140 Yeah, quickly.

00:25:10.340 Thanks.

00:25:11.000 Richard Monica from the Toronto Star.

00:25:12.580 Well, Premier Ford, you said back in May that Premier Smith was putting an independence question on the ballot to protect her 30% base. Have you two spoke?

00:25:21.360 Well, let me talk about that. I think the world of Premier Smith, first of all. And we're focused on a pipeline. I know, let me get to the chase here.

00:25:33.700 The previous federal government, not this one, the previous federal government treated Alberta like garbage, like tear hair. 0.97

00:25:42.240 I've never seen anything as bad as that.

00:25:44.940 So, I know that Premier Smith wants a proud, sovereign Alberta part of Canada.

00:25:51.800 And, again, we're there to support her.

00:25:54.520 It's Team Canada will do anything we can.

00:25:57.700 But, thank you for that question.

00:25:59.740 Now, since it's a tradition, I have a new Ford Nation.

00:26:03.700 I'm not going to wimp it off right here, but I am going to give you the coordination buckle. There you go. Fabulous. There you go.

00:26:14.260 A little bit of a stick. Thank you.

00:26:19.920 I thought he was swinging around like that or anything.

00:26:26.700 And I understood that he was looking around for his Alberta buckle everywhere trying to find it.

00:26:32.840 And so, I got him a replacement, so thank you for all this crew.

00:26:35.840 Thank you.

00:26:36.840 Thank you.

00:26:37.840 I love that one.

00:26:38.840 Thank you.

00:26:39.840 Now, we've got to help buckle the whole month.

00:26:41.840 It's beautiful.

00:26:42.840 No, we're about to fight over there with the hospitality.

00:26:46.840 You're a champion.

00:26:47.840 There you go, sir.

Western Standard - July 06, 2026

Smith and Ford unveil Alberta-to-Ontario pipeline plan [FULL ANNOUNCEMENT]

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