Conservatives set to force House vote on pipeline agreement with Alberta

The Conservatives will be pushing to vote on the Ottawa-Alberta energy deal. Jeremie Charron on the political strategy.

The Liberal government’s pipeline agreement with Alberta will take centre stage in the House of Commons next week — this time through a Conservative opposition motion.

The memorandum of understanding signed last month between Ottawa and Alberta is one both governments were happy with.

• Carney signs major energy agreement with Alberta, laying out conditions for new oil pipeline

But the federal conservatives want to put Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pipeline pledge to the test.

“Liberals have to unify behind the words they promised in the MOU they signed,” said Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in an interview with CTV News.

A Conservative opposition motion expected in the House of Commons on Tuesday, and shared online by Poilievre, shows they’ll use almost the same wording as the agreement between Ottawa and Alberta and force a vote on it in the House.

“It’s really going to be a moment for the Liberals. I think they’re going to have to whip this vote, specifically because it’s their MOU that they signed with Alberta,” said Sharan Kaur, CTV News political analyst and former chief of staff to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

“The interesting part here is this is essentially Pierre Poilievre and his party kind of endorsing the MOU in (their) own way,” added Kaur.

Asked whether this means he supports the agreement, Poilievre would only say Conservatives support a pipeline.

“Mark Carney has got to stop speaking out of both sides of his mouth, stop saying one thing in Alberta and the opposite in British Columbia, and get his Liberal MPs to vote unanimously in favour of approving a pipeline to the Pacific,” Poilievre told CTV News.

‘The final straw’

The vote next week will come as Carney’s government has already faced political backlash from the deal.

Steven Guilbeault resigned from cabinet over it, and two of the government’s climate advisors quit this week too.

• Climate advisers quit roles citing MOU with Alberta

“The MOU was the final straw, absolutely, but this wasn’t the first step we’ve seen toward the suspension, the delay, the dismantling of climate policy in Canada,” said Catherine Abreau of the International Climate Politics Hub and former member of the expert-appointed body advising the government on the path to net-zero emissions.

Tuesday’s vote will be on a Conservative motion – but also indirectly a test of support for the government’s pipeline agreement with Alberta.

A failure by the Liberals to whip the vote could be another political blow for the party.

With files from CTV’s Senior Political Correspondent Mike LeCouteur