November 27, 2025
SURREY – The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) is welcoming the new Ottawa–Alberta Memorandum of Understanding on energy, infrastructure, pipelines, rail, power generation, and ports that will support energy and natural resource development in Western Canada – and urges Premier David Eby to be a constructive partner in making these important nation-building projects a reality.
“Canada has an abundance of energy the world desperately needs, world-leading environmental standards, and a skilled construction workforce that’s ready to build,” said Chris Gardner, ICBA CEO. “This is a sweeping change in policy – the MOU is the first time in a decade that Ottawa and Alberta have been rowing in the same direction on energy. British Columbia needs to be part of ‘Team Canada,’ not on the outside looking in trying to block other provinces getting their resources to world markets through ports on the West Coast.”
Gardner cautioned that Eby’s intransigence on energy risks repeating the Trans Mountain (TMX) experience. “We’ve seen this movie before,” Gardner said. “The NDP famously used ‘every tool in the toolbox’ to stop TMX – and we ended up with years of delay, provincial-federal conflict, and a massive bill dumped on taxpayers. If B.C. repeats that playbook, it will drive away investment, undermine the very idea of a national economic strategy and weaken our ability to chart greater economic independence from the United States.”
Ultimately, the approval process for these national projects is a federal matter, and rightly so, if we let one province block other provinces from getting their resources to market, we weaken our country and end up with ten provinces asserting absolute control over their land. A new energy corridor to the B.C. coast, Gardner said, is exactly the kind of project Canada needs.
“If a new responsibly built pipeline to tidewater were to come to fruition, it will mean billions in private investment, tens of thousands of family-supporting construction jobs, more independence from the whims of the White House, and more revenue to pay for health care, education and the transit and transportation infrastructure our communities so desperately need,” Gardner said. “David Eby has a habit of supporting ‘Team Canada’ only when the project is one, he supports. Opposing this kind of nation-building opportunity isn’t just anti-jobs, anti-investment, and anti-growth – it’s anti-Canadian.”
“When governments work with Indigenous and local communities – as we’ve seen on projects like Coastal GasLink, LNG Canada, Site C, and the expansion of the Port of Vancouver – we get innovation, investment in jobs, skills training, and shared prosperity,” said Gardner. “That’s the model B.C. needs to embrace, not frivolous lawsuits and ideological nonsense. Contractors in B.C. and Alberta are ready to build these projects and help position Canada as a global energy power. Our message to David Eby is simple: we need prosperity, not roadblocks.”
Mike Martens, President of ICBA Alberta, said investors are watching closely. “Aligning Ottawa and Alberta on energy is a powerful signal to both our global competitors and customers, that Canada wants to get back in the game,” Martens said. “What they need to see now is that B.C. will be a willing partner in building Canada.”