Echoes of Ottawa in BC’s pipeline spat with Alberta: Jerome Gessaroli for Inside Policy – MLI
December 1, 2025
British Columbia frames its opposition in the language of climate action and coastal protection; those goals may be sincere, but the key issue is whether the province holds itself to the same standard it once applied to Ottawa.
For decades, British Columbia has positioned itself as one of Western Canada’s most vocal critics of federal policies that favoured Ontario and Quebec at the expense of the Western provinces. BC governments, political leaders, and commentators have long participated in the Western Canadian narrative that Ottawa, directed by Central Canada’s electoral weight and economic interests, treated the West as a resource hinterland whose prosperity could be subordinated to national projects shaped around Central Canadian priorities.
