Premier Kenney meets with Deputy PM Freeland in Calgary

Freeland meets with Kenney and Nenshi Watch: Deputy Prime Minister met Tuesday with Premier Jason Kenney and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. Bill Macfarlane reports.

Calgary — Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland met with Premier Jason Kenney Tuesday in Calgary as she continues her tour through Alberta.

It was the pair’s first meeting of 2020 following their session in late November that followed the federal election.

At that time, Kenney doubled down on calls for the Liberals to give a firm guarantee on the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion by a fixed date, repeal contentious energy bills C-69 and C-48, and revisit provincial equalization payments.

Premier Jason Kenney appeared alongside Freeland, calling for Ottawa to work together on job creation and environmental regulations in Alberta.

"I appreciate the continued outreach by the government of Canada," Kenney said. "However, Albertans do want to see some concrete action early in 2020 to demonstrate that we can find common ground.

"We did come to an equivalency agreement on major emissions through our tier fund, and on December 23 had an initial understanding on methane regulation as well," Kenney said.

"We strted to really roll up our sleeves and get some concrete things done on the large emitters," Freeland said. "We are continuing to work on methane."

It was their third meeting since the federal election in October. Freeland was scheduled to meet with Mayor Naheed Nenshi Tuesday afternoon for an hour.

Tuesday’s meeting comes on the heels of the deputy prime minister’s sit down with Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson in the provincial capital Monday. The pair discussed the new trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico and federal funding for municipalities.

Freeland’s visit to Alberta comes at a time of strong anti-Ottawa sentiment following the federal election in the fall where no Liberals were elected in Alberta and the Wexit movement emerged.

Alberta's UCP government recently launched a Fair Deal Panel in an effort to give Alberta a bigger voice in Ottawa. Town halls continue this week in Fort McMurray and Fort Saskatchewan to garner feedback from Albertans on a number of options being considered by the province, including withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan and creating a provincial police force and revenue collection agency.

Freeland is scheduled to travel north to meet local officials in Grande Prairie and Peace River.