Premier Rachel Notley says Alberta would buy the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion if the company wants out after May 31.

In an interview Monday, I asked her: “If Kinder Morgan were to say, ‘We’re gone, and if you want to buy, it’s yours’ – that’s what you’d do?”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

“That’s what we’d do,” said the premier.

The answer is almost too clear for politics. But it’s what she said.

Earlier I asked: “Are you assuring Albertans that even if Kinder Morgan does walk away, that it (the Trans Mountain project) will still be alive and kicking with Alberta in control, after May 31.”

“We have every intention that this will happen,” she said.

Anybody who thinks Notley is bluffing should remember that she’s already phased out coal, brought in a carbon tax, turned the electricity industry on its head and imposed a cap on emissions.

Notley won’t talk about the cost of buying the expansion or what other solutions might work. But she’s determined that the province, hopefully with Ottawa as co-investor, would control the project.

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Notley says the Trans Mountain expansion has become “too big to fail” both economically and in terms of national symbolism. “Success would send a strong signal; failure would send an even stronger signal.”

Alberta officials have been in talks with the company for some time.

“We have been surveying the options but we’re not in a position to say we’ve arrived at Model A or Model B,” Notley said. “What is true is that we’ve been having good, robust, wide-ranging conversations.”

She wouldn’t comment on Ottawa’s involvement, but the feds are clearly engaged with Kinder Morgan, too.

Notley certainly wants Ottawa in. She’s meeting federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Wednesday to discuss options. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called an emergency cabinet meeting.

Photo by Canadian Press

Nobody is talking numbers yet, but obviously a buyout would run to billions.

One idea is for the government to buy a controlling interest and then sell shares to the Alberta public.

That worked in the 1970s, when the Progressive Conservatives created the Alberta Energy Co. to develop oil and gas.

Premier Peter Lougheed’s government issued shares for 50 per cent of the government’s stake. Stock ownership was strictly limited to Alberta residents.

Lougheed even let cabinet ministers buy shares. He wanted Albertans to be sure the politicians were enthusiastic about the company’s success.

They certainly were. Albertans snapped up the offering. The stock soon split three ways.

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

For many years it was a solid investment for thousands of families. (In 2002, Alberta Energy merged with Pan Canadian Energy to become Encana.)

Today, the NDP is actively discussing this idea. And there might be a hot market for shares in a project that has almost become a patriotic symbol to many Albertans.

While all this is being considered, the plan to squeeze B.C.’s economy has turned serious, specific – and angry.

After Kinder Morgan’s Sunday decision to stop work , MLAs of all parties are ready to inflict some serious damage.

New enabling bills will be tabled next week. Notley said one measure is ready for launch immediately.

“The first one you will see has been vetted for use. The financial risk, the investor risk, has been fully vetted. We’re not bringing in something just to put it in the window.”

She won’t divulge the target, but it may be Lower Mainland fuel supplies through the constriction of oil exports.

Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd told the legislature, “In the forthcoming days there will be legislation dropped … to restrict resources to B.C., to inflict economic pain upon them so that they realize what their decision means.”

Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman was even more direct: “You want to make life hard on Albertans? We can certainly do the same for British Columbians. We don’t want to, but we’re willing to do that, and because it’s in the national interest we have the means to do so.”

B.C. Premier John Horgan has 52 days to issue non-harassment guarantees that satisfy Kinder Morgan.

If he doesn’t, he could soon be looking at a new project owner who’s mad as a grizzly and won’t be run off.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald