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By Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press

Geopolitics

Alberta’s Danielle Smith says Maduro capture outlines urgency of West Coast pipeline

Jan 5, 2026 | 3:52 PM

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the American capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro underlines the urgency of building oil pipelines to export Canadian oil to new markets.

U.S. President Donald Trump sent political shock waves around the world with the weekend military raid, saying Washington aimed to seize the South American country’s oil reserves.

Smith says the events “emphasize the importance that we expedite the development of pipelines to diversify our oil export markets.”

That includes a new pipeline to British Columbia’s West Coast to reach markets in Asia.

In November, Smith signed an agreement with Prime Minister Mark Carney paving the way to a potential Indigenous co-owned bitumen pipeline and to eliminate environmental policies standing in the way, including the B.C. tanker ban.

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The deal aims for Alberta and Ottawa to agree on an industrial carbon price by April 1 and sets a July 1 deadline for a pipeline proposal to Ottawa’s Major Projects Office.

“Alberta supports building pipelines in all directions to get our product to market and we look forward to continuing to work with provincial and federal partners to advance these projects,” Smith said in a statement Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2026.