OTTAWA 鈥� Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says that United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney's rhetoric on pipelines is starting to mirror the isolationist proposals made by U.S. President Donald Trump.
"He's essentially saying that, what we should do is build a wall around Alberta. I wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if, tomorrow, he comes out demanding that B.C. pays for it," Notley said in an interview with Evan Solomon, host of CTV's Question Period.
"And then the next day he鈥檒l come out and wonder why it is that we can鈥檛 get the pipeline built," she said of her provincial rival.
Notley has been crisscrossing Canada on what's been described as a pipeline road trip in which she鈥檚 spoken in favour of the expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline.
Kenney has criticized her approach, saying she should bring sanctions on British Columbia over their opposition to the project, and if she doesn鈥檛 he鈥檚 said that he would, if he鈥檚 elected premier.
"He鈥檚 approaching and recommending a very isolationist view of how Alberta should engage with the rest of the country," Notley said. She thinks this is the wrong approach and doubts it鈥檒l be effective.
"He鈥檚 just not going to build a pipeline by crossing his arms, sticking out his lower lip, pouting, and then somehow suggesting that the answer to it is to ask Kinder Morgan to actually stop shipping what they鈥檙e already shipping in order to get this done," she said.
"I mean, none of this makes sense. It is rhetorical, it鈥檚 not logical, it doesn鈥檛 make sense, and that鈥檚 exactly the same kind of strategy that we see south of the border," said Notley.
Singh 'not on the right page' on pipelines
In addition to opposing Kenney鈥檚 pipelines approach, the Alberta premier acknowledged she is at odds with other top New Democrats.
Both federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and B.C. Premier John Horgan are opposed to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion.
Notley says, while she agrees with them on many things, they're in the wrong here, because they see environmental protections being in competition with jobs.
"As far as the federal party goes, as far as the new leader goes, they are not on the right page with respect to this particular matter," said Notley.
"And I鈥檓 going to continue to make that case to all New Democrats across the country."
Federal marijuana tax proposal 'ridiculous'
Notley also weighed in on the ongoing dispute between the federal government and the provinces over the proposed 50-50 split on the $1 per gram. or 10 per cent of the retail price. excise tax on legal marijuana.
She said, speaking as both a premier, and as the chair of the Council of the Federation, the federal proposal is 鈥渞idiculous鈥� and not supported by premiers. She鈥檇 prefer to see the provinces get to keep all of the money, until it鈥檚 been worked out just how much money they are having to spend on setting up the new legal marijuana regime.
"The vast majority of cost in implementing the new marijuana legislation falls to the provinces and so it makes utterly no sense that the federal government would arbitrarily take 50 per cent. They have said all along that this was not meant to be a revenue generating process, and so don鈥檛 treat it like that," Notley said.
