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Danielle Smith told the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal that she sees opportunities for Quebec and Alberta to find areas of political partnership.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is encouraging Quebec to develop its own natural gas industry, touting it as an area where the two provinces can work together and a way for Quebec to increase government revenue.
The comments came as Smith addressed the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal on Monday during her second official visit to the city in less than six months.
“I believe Quebec has a 200-year supply of its own natural gas. They should develop their own natural gas so that they can wean themselves off their 100 per cent reliability on America,” Smith told reporters before her speech to the business group. “If Quebecers want to be strong and sovereign within a united Canada, starting by developing their own resources is No. 1.”
According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, about half of the natural gas imported into Quebec in 2024 came from the United States, with the rest coming from western Canada.
Alberta would be happy to help Quebec develop a regulatory environment for natural gas extraction, as well as a royalty system for that energy, Smith said. “I’d love to see Quebec develop a new revenue source so that they can reduce the amount of equalization (payments) they get.”
Equalization payments, money transferred by the federal government to provinces that have less fiscal capacity than their peers, has long been a source of anger in Alberta, which has not received such transfers since the 1960s.
Smith said Alberta is not currently working on a project to build a pipeline that would transport fuel from Alberta through Quebec, but that it is supporting efforts to build a pipeline to a port in Prince Rupert, B.C. — a port she said is partially owned by Quebec’s Caisse de dépôt et placement. But Smith said Alberta is looking at whether oil could be transported by pipeline to Thunder Bay and then transported by ship to a port in Quebec.
Smith’s speech focused on calls for Quebec to rebuild its industrial capacity, presenting a vision of Canada where Alberta provides energy for manufacturers in Ontario and Quebec, which produce goods that can then be sold to Alberta.
Smith said there’s been a realization in Alberta that many products needed by the oil industry, like coil tubing, drill bits and steel pipe, have to be purchased from the U.S. because they aren’t manufactured in Canada.
“What has happened in the last 20 years in our country is that we hollowed out our supply chain and now, if we want to rebuild that manufacturing base, I think the place to do it is the place that has the expertise, and that is Quebec and Ontario. And so I hope that we find some building partners willing to change course,” she said.
As Canada’s manufacturing base has shrunk, Smith said, Canada’s economy has shifted to a focus on selling exports to the U.S.
“We’ve realized how perilous that is. We don’t know if the relationship with the United States is going to normalize, even if there’s a change in leadership in the White House,” she told the Chamber. “This protectionist trend may be the new normal with our United States trading partner for some time.”
Former Quebec premier Jean Charest, who was in attendance, said the visit from Smith was significant, and described Alberta as a province with a dynamic, entrepreneurial economy.
“Quebec and Alberta have always had a lot in common in terms of our vision of federalism,” he told reporters, adding it’s time to recognize that there are many opportunities for businesses in the two provinces to work together.
But Charest said he doesn’t think Quebec, which doesn’t have a culture of hydrocarbon extraction, will develop its natural gas industry. However, he added, with a changing geopolitical environment, conversations about a natural gas pipeline in the province may be different than they have been in the past.
Smith said she also sees opportunities for Quebec and Alberta to find areas of political partnership.
“I think we both are frustrated with the federal government that wants to impose its will on the provincial jurisdictions,” she said, adding that’s why Alberta has intervened in support of Quebec’s use of the notwithstanding clause to protect Bill 21, its ban on the wearing of religious symbols by certain government employees.
“We just have to get back to operating the country the way it was intended. We have exclusive areas of provincial jurisdiction,” Smith said. “The provinces respect federal areas of jurisdiction; the federal government doesn’t respect ours.
“I think if we could partner on those things to make sure that the federal government is focused on areas where it can, and should, do well, then the country would operate a lot better.”
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