VICTORIA — An escalating war of words between two of Canada’s Western premiers has pushed into serious doubt the future of Enbridge’s proposed $6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline.

On Tuesday, Premier Christy Clark said the pipeline will die if Alberta doesn’t negotiate with British Columbia over the sharing of economic benefits.

“If Alberta doesn’t decide they want to sit down and engage, the project stops. It’s as simple as that,” Clark said in an interview from Halifax.

“So the ball is in Alberta’s court today to decide whether or not they want to sit down.”

But Alberta Premier Alison Redford was holding equally firm.

“We will not share royalties, and I see nothing else proposed and would not be prepared to consider anything else,” Redford said Tuesday morning.

“From my perspective, I’m not going to sit back and wait for the conversation to continue to be defined without ensuring that Albertans and Canadians understand what Alberta’s position is, and that is we will continue to protect the jurisdiction we have over our energy resources.”

The high-stakes showdown comes a day after Victoria laid out the five elements it needs to see before it will consider supporting the massive pipeline project.

Among the requirements was that B.C. needs to reduce any environmental risks through a world-class marine- and land-based spill response network. The province has also made clear it must get a greater share of the economic benefits.

The comments by Clark and Redford also come on the eve of the Council of the Federation, where provincial and territorial leaders are set to meet in Halifax from today until Friday.

The pipeline is expected to be a significant topic of those meetings.

In explaining her opposition, Redford said that Clark’s request to share revenues suggests a redrawing of the rules of Confederation, which gives each province jurisdiction over natural resources and the right to retain revenue from their sale.

Alberta is not prepared to cede any of its royalty income, Redford said, indicating she believes other premiers will agree with her position.

On Tuesday, Clark called this reaction “silly.”

“I think it’s a little unreasonable to suggest that I’m trying to destroy Confederation. I’m only trying to get B.C.’s fair share out of this project and make sure we’re protecting our environment. It’s as simple as that,” said Clark, adding B.C. is taking on significant risk from the pipeline and expects to receive a commensurate benefit.

“It doesn’t have to be some massive project to reopen the Constitution, for heaven’s sake. That’s just silly,” she added.

“We need to sit down as provinces, and with the federal government, and have a discussion and a negotiation about how B.C. is going to get its fair share. It doesn’t mean some rebalancing of the country, for goodness sake.”

Clark said she had not spoken with Redford since last Thursday when she flew to Alberta to tell Redford about the five demands she was getting set to publicly release on the pipeline.

Clark described that meeting last Thursday as being “pretty chilly.”