PM Carney Warns B.C.: Energy Projects or Funding Elsewhere

Prime Minister Mark Carney told a Vancouver business audience Wednesday that if B.C. continues to block energy infrastructure, his government will redirect investment and approval efforts to other provinces.

"If things get stalled here, we're going to be spending more time elsewhere in the country," Carney said, speaking at the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade before meeting with Premier David Eby.

Carney framed global energy shocks—Iran conflict, Qatar supply disruptions, rising fuel prices—as creating an "energy crisis" Canada must help solve. His plan: fast-track project approvals, rework clean energy policies, and back a new oil pipeline to the Pacific. "Unlike many countries, Canada can be part of the solution, for the world, for ourselves," he said.

The pipeline at stake is the Pathways carbon capture and storage system, which Carney said will only proceed if B.C. agrees and Indigenous peoples are consulted. He also emphasized the province must "share substantial economic and financial benefits."

Eby remains opposed to northwest coast oil infrastructure but supports natural gas expansion (LNG Canada Phase 2) and mining. Before the meeting, he'd criticized Carney for rewarding Smith's "bad behaviour" by backing her pipeline push. After the sit-down, though, Eby called Carney "a friend to B.C." and said he wants B.C.'s "fair share of federal investment."

For Calgary, this federal-provincial tension matters: Alberta's pipeline hopes depend partly on B.C. cooperation, and Carney's warning suggests Ottawa's patience has limits. Energy politics just got tighter.