Brad Wall defends Energy East support, downplays spat with Alberta premier

Despite a verbal spat withAlberta Premier Rachel Notley,Premier Brad Wall says he stands by his support of the proposed TranscanadaEnergy East pipeline, a 4,600-kilometre project that will use new and existing pipelines to move western Canadian oil to the east coast for shipment abroad.

The friction between the two premiers emerged after Wall suggested on Thursday that Notley is handing a veto to Quebec by seeking that province's input on Alberta's environmental policy vis--visits oil industry.

• Wall prioritizes pipelines

WallandNotleyhave been meetingthis week as part of the annual summer premiers' conference, held this year in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Wall has been touting western Canadian oil and western Canada's energy sectorat the conference.

Notley suggested that Wall and others are doing a "littlebit of showboating," while she has beenfocused on finding consensus with the other provinces.

"If standing up for my province and for an industry that creates thousands ofjobs for western Canadians is showboating, show me the bridge," Wall told CBC on Thursday, "because I'll do it every single time."

We've invested more, per capita, on CO2 mitigation than anywhere else in Canada.- Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall

Wall said the oil industry has been treated as a liability in discussions on a Canadian energy strategy at this year's conference.

In an interview Friday morning, healso defendedSaskatchewan's environmental record.

"In our province, we've invested more, per capita, on CO2 mitigation than anywhere else in Canada,frankly, through the project at Boundary Dam. We can always do better but we have a solid record," he said.

Wall noted that Canada, among the top three oil reserve countries in the world, has the most preferable environmental record ahead ofthe other two: Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Regardless of the friction betweenhimself and Notley, Wall saidhe's optimistic that there will be an agreed-upon national energy strategy by the end of the day Friday.

"I'm optimistic we'll have a document here, and I think it'll be a document that recognizes the importance of moving energy across the country," he said.