Alberta’s government kicked off a new legislative session pledging to build new pipelines and deploy its vast

natural gas

reserves to become a major player in

artificial intelligence.  

The government of

Premier Danielle Smith

laid out ambitions to build new oil pipelines running to the Pacific coast, Ontario and Hudson Bay in Canada’s north, taking advantage of more energy-friendly policies of

Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The province will also aim to attract more AI data centres to lessen its economic reliance on resource exports.

“Alberta is already an energy superpower. Alberta will now also become an AI superpower, making our province a world leader in arguably the world’s two most important commodities — energy and computing power,” the government said in the prepared text of the so-called throne speech, to be delivered by Lieutenant Governor Salma Lakhani.

Canada is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, and Alberta, home of the oil sands, accounts for the bulk of the country’s hydrocarbon exports — most of which is sent to the U.S. Facing tariffs imposed by

United States President Donald Trump

, Carney has been more receptive than Justin Trudeau to large-scale oil and gas projects that lessen the country’s economic dependence on its southern neighbour.

“This government has driven back the anti-energy movement in our country and helped to turn the tide of national public opinion from anti-oil and gas sentiment into a national consensus that Alberta’s energy resources are a national treasure that can and must be developed,” the government said in the speech.

Last month, Smith announced plans to spearhead the planning process for the construction of a new oil pipeline to the Pacific coast, which would allow Canada to more than double shipments of crude to Asian markets. But so far, no private-sector company has publicly expressed a willingness to build and operate such a pipeline.

As for AI, the province’s “almost inexhaustible supplies of natural gas” can be used for data centres, the government said.

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“This, combined with Alberta’s highly educated population and exceptional post-secondary institutions, will be integral to developing and scaling AI data-driven applications in medicine, technology and every other sector.”

As of August, more than two dozen data center projects have been proposed to the Alberta Electric System Operator with a load of more than 12,000 megawatts, according to the agency’s data.

Bloomberg.com