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Alberta wants market access for its oil and can’t get it.

British Columbia wants to sell Alberta its excess electricity.

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How’s that going to work out?

“It’s perfectly clear we won’t be buying more power if we can’t get our product to market,” says one official in the Alberta government.

As Premier Rachel Notley sat down Thursday with the prime minister and her provincial colleagues in Vancouver, she continued to press the case that Alberta needs to get its oil to tidewater so it can find new export markets.

Without it, Canada’s energy companies will continue to sell their crude at steep discounts, particularly as more oilsands production comes on stream in the next few years.

This discount will cost the provincial and federal governments billions of dollars in lost taxes and revenues, as well as lost jobs.

After the meeting, Notley told reporters she raised the issue with the other first ministers, and was pleased they agreed market access matters should be dealt with on an urgent basis.