Opinion: Time for Smith to stop placating Alberta separatists? |
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Alberta wants a new bitumen pipeline to the West Coast. The widely celebrated, historic memorandum of understanding Premier Danielle Smith signed with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Nov. 27, advances this aim.
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Now, Smith says her government will apply for a pipeline by June 1, and Ottawa needs to approve it by this fall. Fair enough. With the U.S. set on reviving Venezuela’s oil industry, Canadian crude faces increased competition, strengthening the case for a new pipeline to service new markets.
But here’s the problem: Smith’s government has also made a referendum on Alberta separation easier. Some observers believe a vote could be held as early as this fall.
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A referendum will make attracting investment in a pipeline more difficult. And if the case for a pipeline is more urgent, plunging the province into the existential bog of a separation vote will surely undermine any effort to expedite one.
Investors would hesitate for clear, practical reasons. A referendum injects political risk into an already........