Notley says being in Edmonton better use of her time than premiers meeting

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is defending her decision to pull out of a meeting of western premiers in Yellowknife, saying it's a better use of her time to stayon top of talks to build the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

"If we were a long ways away from a decision point on the pipeline, maybe spending 45 minutes chastising [B.C. Premier] John Horgan in front of other premiers would be a good use of my time," Notley said at a news conference Tuesday.

"But quite honestly right now, we're very close to some very important decisions that have to be made. Very complex decisions with a lot of moving parts. So I need to be here."

• Notley backs out of western premiersmeeting, citing Trans Mountain deadline
• B.C. sues Alberta over turn-off-the-taps legislation

The annual meeting is scheduled to start Tuesday night. Deputy premier Sarah Hoffman, who is also Alberta's minister of health, will attend in Notley's place.

The discussions will focus on cannabis and pharmacare. Notley said those are important issues, but a pipeline to the West Coast would help Canada pay for a national drug program.

Earlier Tuesday, B.C. announced it has filed a statement of claim with the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, alleging Bill 12, the Notleygovernment's turn-off-the-taps legislation,is unconstitutional.

The bill, which has not yet been proclaimed, would give Alberta's energy minister the power to restrict oil and gas shipments to British Columbia, a move expected to drive up the price at the pumps, even if B.C. sourced its fuel elsewhere.

'Legal rope-a-dope'

Notley called B.C.'s lawsuit premature. "Although we appreciate them sharing their arguments with us in advance," she said.

The Alberta premiersaid B.C. is purposefully taking actions in the court to inject uncertainty into the process and will not say when it will stop.

"They are still reserving the right to play legal rope-a-dope until the cows come home and that's not a thing that we are going to let happen," she said.

The bill has not been proclaimed because there are a number of regulations that have to be put in place, Notley said. She didn't directly address a question as to whether delaying the proclamation was a strategy to prevent B.C. from taking Alberta to court.

Jason Kenney, leader of Alberta's official Opposition United Conservative Party, slammed Notley for skipping the premier's conference.

"Instead of confronting the premier of British Columbia and telling him we'll make good on our promise to turn off the taps, instead of rallying the support of other western premiers ... our premier is hiding out in Edmonton," Kenneytold reporters in Calgary.

The federal government is in closed-door discussionswith Kinder Morgan on ways to resume construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline this summer.

The company suspended all non-essential spending on the $7.4-billion project in April, and said it would decide by May 31 whether to go ahead.

The talks centre on providing some financial certainty to Kinder Morgan or any other company if the project faces delays due to intergovernmental squabbling.

• B.C. sues Alberta over turn-off-the-taps legislation