e-2303 (Parliament and politics)

The Government of Canada is committed to fostering productive, constructive relationships with all provinces and territories of Canada.

We recognize that many Albertans have faced economic hardship in recent years due to declines in commodity prices and a bottleneck in capacity to export energy resources.

The Government took significant and bold action to help Albertans with Canada’s 2018 purchase of Trans Mountain Corporation, which is in the process of completing the Trans Mountain Expansion project. This major project will substantially increase Alberta’s capacity to export energy.

We are committed to getting Canadian resources to new markets. We offer our unwavering and strong support to workers in Canada’s natural resource sectors who have faced tough times recently.

The current equalization formula was introduced in 2007 by the previous Conservative government. In 2018, the federal government renewed the equalization program without changes. The next legislated review of the equalization program will take place in 2023-24.

The Governments of Canada and Alberta have collaborated closely on a range of important issues in recent months, including on the new NAFTA, infrastructure, a Canada-Alberta equivalency agreement on methane regulations, and the acceptance of the Alberta Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) for large emitters.

Indeed, over the past year, the Government of Canada has done its utmost to work collaboratively with Alberta, no more so than during the current pandemic.  The Government of Canada has invested massively to support Alberta businesses, including the oil and gas industry, and directly supported Albertans during the biggest economic downturn in almost a century through programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.

In addition to a range of programs to support individuals and businesses, the Government of Canada has provided up to $1 billion to the Government of Alberta to support the province’s work to clean up inactive oil and gas wells and $200 million to the Alberta Orphan Wells Association (OWA) to help get Albertans back to work by cleaning up orphan oil and gas wells and well sites across Alberta. An additional $750 million in federal funds has been made available for loans that will help oil and gas companies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

We are in regular contact with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, as well as other Alberta ministers, mayors, business leaders and community stakeholders to strengthen relationships and to identify additional areas for collaboration between our governments.

We know that Canada only succeeds when every region and province – including Alberta – succeeds.