Rachel Notley joins new Canada-U.S. council, while Danielle Smith ditches ‘Team Canada’ tariff response

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley meet in Edmonton on Wednesday September 5, 2018. (Jason Franson) (JASON FRANSON/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Former Alberta premier Rachel Notley is one of 18 people on the new Canada-U.S. relations council.

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The council, formed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was launched on Thursday. It features leaders from industry, business, labour and government, who will support the federal government in navigating the current threat of tariffs from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.

Brian Topp, Notley’s former chief of staff and a former NAFTA advisory council member, will be joining the former Alberta NDP leader on the council.

While the former premier joined forces with the feds, Alberta’s current premier broke ties.

Danielle Smith was the only premier on Wednesday to reject the national show of unity at a First Ministers' meeting on how to respond should Trump follow through with his threat of 25-per-cent across-the-board tariffs.

Smith alone refused to sign the joint statement and skipped the subsequent press conference, where every other premier emphasized putting Canadian needs ahead of individual interests.

“I respect that she’s concerned about protecting her energy, and that’s her choice… I have a different theory,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said. “Protect your jurisdiction, but country comes first.”

Later that day, Smith said on social media Alberta would not support any strategy that included placing export taxes on oil and gas.

She followed up Thursday with a post jabbing at the so-called Team Canada approach taken by Ottawa and her fellow premiers.

“How about this for building a ‘Team Canada’ approach?” The post read, in part. “Stop threatening the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Albertans & Canadians via an energy export tax or ban.”

Alberta Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean echoed Smith in a Thursday statement.

“We are considering every measure to protect our Alberta’s oil and gas industry from unreasonable export tariffs or any attempts by Ottawa to cut off Alberta’s oil and gas exports to the U.S.,” he said.

“Every tool in the toolbox is being considered.”

Andrew Leach, a professor of economics and law at the University of Alberta, said Smith’s position makes sense given how critical oil exports are to her economy.

“I think it’s right for Premier Smith to push back and say … ‘We don’t want to have just a policy that is at the expense of Alberta for the benefit of everybody else,’” he added.

That said, it’s highly unlikely she’ll be able to refuse or fight a federal order, as the majority of oil ceases to be owned by the province once it’s out of the ground.

Even if it was, Leach said the courts are clear that international trade is entirely within federal jurisdiction.

“What the federal government would be doing in this case would be an export tariff or an export quota of some sort, and that wouldn’t exempt provincial-owned resources, whether they were in a pipeline, on a truck, on a train,” Leach explained.

With files from CTV News Edmonton Chelan Skulski