Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has announced details of her meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Mar. 20, 2025. (Photo: Pattison Media)

By David Opinko

Alberta Premier makes demands during first meeting with PM Carney

Mar 20, 2025 | 12:46 PM

The premier of Alberta met with Canada’s new prime minister on Thursday for the first time.

Danielle Smith says she and Mark Carney had a “very frank discussion” about a variety of topics, and emphasized that she wants the province to have a better relationship with the federal government than it has had under the leadership of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“I made it clear that Albertans will no longer tolerate the way we’ve been treated by the federal Liberals over the past 10 years,” says Smith.

She says she provided a specific list of demands to “the next Prime Minister, regardless of who that is,” that must be addressed within the first six months of their term to avoid an “unprecedented national unity crisis.”

Smith’s demands are:

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• Guaranteeing Alberta full access to unfettered oil and gas corridors to the north, east, and west
• Repealing Bill C-69 (aka. “no new pipelines act”)
• Lifting the tanker ban off the B.C. coast
• Eliminating the oil and gas emissions cap, which is a production cap
• Scrapping the so-called Clean Electricity Regulations
• Ending the prohibition on single use plastics
• Abandoning the net-zero car mandate
• Returning oversight of the industrial carbon tax to the provinces
• Halting the federal censorship of energy companies

“I also made it clear that Alberta, as owner of the resource, will not accept an export tax or restriction of Alberta’s oil and gas to the United States, and that our province is no longer agreeable to subsidizing other large provinces who are fully capable of funding themselves,” says Smith.

“Lastly, I made it clear that federal mismanagement of Jasper and Banff national parks resulted in last year’s tragic wildfire in Jasper and is endangering Banff, and the situation must be rectified immediately.”

READ MORE: Federal government commits $187M to rebuild critical infrastructure in Jasper

Sources have indicated that Carney plans to call a federal election on Sunday, March 23.

Smith believes it will likely be “one of the most pivotal and important elections in our nation’s history.”

She is encouraging all Albertans to get involved and to support candidates who have consistently advocated for Alberta.

READ MORE: PM Mark Carney expected to call federal election on Sunday