'Dangerous and divisive': Prairie premiers call on federal government to retract natural resource right statements

The Premiers of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba are calling on the federal government to retract statements made by federal justice minister David Lametti over the Natural Resource Revenue Act.

In a joint statement released on Tuesday, Premier Scott Moe, Premier Heather Stefanson and Premier Danielle Smith called on the prime minister to set the record straight in reference to the minister’s comments.

“The Prime Minister needs to tell Canadians today that his Justice Minister was not speaking on behalf of the federal government when he said he would look at rescinding the 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Agreements with the prairie provinces and stripping away their constitutional authority and control over natural resources,” the statement read.

Lametti made the comments after concerns were raised by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) about resource development on Treaty Lands.

“For that, I obviously can’t pronounce on that right now but I do commit to looking at that,” Lametti said when asked about directly reviewing the act.

• Download the CTV News app to receive Saskatchewan breaking news alerts on your device

“It won’t be uncontroversial is the only thing I would say with a bit of a smile,” Lametti also said.

Moe previously called Lametti’s statement “outrageous.”

“The federal government cannot unilaterally change the constitution. They should not even be considering stripping resource rights away from the three prairie provinces,” the statement read.

The statement added that the act was fundamental to the people and economic autonomy of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba since its passing nearly 100 years ago.

The joint statement from the premiers was preceded by a Twitter post from Lametti on Monday.

In the tweet, Lametti clarified he did not commit the federal government to reviewing areas of provincial jurisdiction, including over natural resources.

“The focus of our government’s work is to co-develop an action plan with Indigenous partners that will show the path we must take towards aligning federal laws and policies with UNDRIP [United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples],” the post read.

Speaking to reporters in Prince Albert on Tuesday, Premier Moe said he wasn’t satisfied with Lametti’s clarification.

“The answer, and there is only one answer, is the federal government cannot look into this or change it. They just do not have the capacity as per the constitution to do so,” Moe said.

“[Lametti's] answer was disappointing. The clarification, I believe yesterday was probably even more disappointing in where he said he didn’t say that he was going to look into impacting provincial jurisdiction when it comes to things like natural resources, that’s exactly what he said."

With files from CTV News' Drew Postey.