Carney lays out pipeline conditions as Eby flags negotiations on B.C.’s priorities

British Columbia Premier David Eby says he and Prime Minister Mark Carney have agreed to enter negotiations on B.C.’s priorities for developing the economy.

Eby says ahead of a closed-door meeting with Carney, who’s visiting Vancouver, that part of friendship is telling each other the truth, including that developing the economy must go hand in hand with protecting the environment.

He says that includes the moratorium on oil tanker traffic off B.C.’s north coast, that has been raised as a potential impediment to any new pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast.

Carney says it’s important to build in the right way, in partnership with First Nations and with an emphasis on sustainability, and the priorities of British Columbians. 

He had earlier Wednesday laid out prerequisites for the possible pipeline that has been championed by Alberta’s government, but which Eby has warned would reward separatist behaviour.

Carney told the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade that the pipeline project, advanced last week through an implementation agreement between the federal and Alberta governments, will only proceed with the creation of the Pathways carbon capture project.

He said British Columbians should also share substantial economic and financial benefits from the project and that the duty to consult First Nations under section 35 of the Constitution Act is “non-negotiable.”

The proposed project has no agreed route or private proponent.

Eby has said the federal government should not be rewarding Alberta’s “bad behaviour” and that the prime minister should focus more on projects being advanced by B.C.

The premier said Tuesday that Canada cannot work if “separatist premiers” get all the attention of the federal government.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2026.

By Chuck Chiang and Brieanna Charlebois | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.