PM Carney returns to Edmonton, meets with Premier Smith, skates with Oilers

EDMONTON — With reports swirling of a weekend election call, Prime Minister Mark Carney came to Edmonton on Thursday to meet with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, announce more money to rebuild fire-ravaged Jasper and go for a skate with the Edmonton Oilers.

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Canada’s 24th prime minster, wearing a blue Oilers jersey with 24 and Carney on the back, took to the ice with the National Hockey League team for its morning skate at Rogers Place.

He spoke to coaches, joined players in a passing drill and shook hands with goaltender Calvin Pickard. Carney did not speak to reporters after but was slated to make a housing announcement in the city later in the day.

Now 60, Carney grew up in Edmonton during the Oilers’ glory days in the 1980s. He played hockey in college, serving as the third-string goalie at Harvard University.

Before heading to the arena, Carney met with Smith in their first face-to-face since Carney was sworn into office last week.

Neither side provided details on what was discussed.

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Smith, an outspoken critic of the policies of former prime minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government, has renewed those attacks on Carney and his administration in recent days.

On Wednesday, her United Conservative Party government tabled a bill that seeks to ban federal employees from accessing oil and gas facilities and their emissions data. Critics and law professors say the province doesn’t have the legal authority to do so.

Smith also said the federal government’s proposed emissions cap, among other resource-related policies, have been as much of a threat to Alberta’s oil industry as tariffs from the United States.

“I would say that we face a dual threat,” she said.

“Yes, we have to deal with the tariffs, but we also equally have to deal with the federal Liberal government that has tried to crush our economy for the past 10 years.”

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She said the bill is a warning to the new prime minister that Alberta will continue to fight for the industry, which she expects to have to do under a Carney government.

“I can tell you I’m not encouraged by what I’ve seen so far,” Smith said of Carney. “I think there’s a real danger that the new prime minister is worse than the old prime minister.”

In a news release Thursday, Carney’s office also laid out $187 million in new funding to help rebuild Jasper. It’s the largest funding package announced for Jasper since a runaway wildfire ripped through Jasper National Park and destroyed a third of the town in July.

The money is to help rebuild roads, campgrounds, trails and permanent staff housing, and provide interim homes while the town is rebuilt.

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Carney’s trip to Edmonton comes as all parties gear up to hit the hustings.

Trudeau prorogued Parliament in January and it’s slated to return on Monday. But sources say Carney is to instead go to Gov.-Gen. Mary Simon on Sunday to dissolve Parliament and launch a federal election campaign.

Carney’s Liberals will have their work cut out for them in Alberta. The party only has two sitting members in the province with Randy Boissonnault in Edmonton and George Chahal in Calgary. Both are seeking re-election.

Carney’s visit to Edmonton, his childhood home, was his first since he made his Liberal leadership bid announcement in the city in January.

Born in the Northwest Territories, Carney grew up in Edmonton before leaving to study economics at Harvard and Oxford universities.

At his leadership announcement, Carney recalled lacing up his skates to play outdoor hockey at the Laurier Heights Community League rink in west Edmonton

“I can still hear the blades of the skates tapping on the floor as we try to get the blood flowing into our toes,” he said at the time, joking about Edmonton’s weather.

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