(Edmonton, AB) December 4, 2025: United Conservatives are calling on Naheed Nenshi and Alberta NDP MLAs to come clean on where they stand after federal NDP leadership candidate Avi Lewis claimed nation-building projects, like pipelines, are “big, manly things” with “horrifying” impacts, among other inflammatory comments criticizing major Canadian energy developments.
Lewis’s comments come just days after Alberta signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ottawa that includes a new Indigenous co-owned bitumen pipeline to Asian markets. Despite this work with Indigenous partners, Alberta NDP MLAs have offered no response to his insulting allegations.
“This is the same party whose leader called a West Coast pipeline a ‘pipe dream’ before backpedalling when the facts proved him wrong,” said Nolan Dyck, MLA for Grande Prairie and Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous and Rural Policing. “Now they’re silent while a candidate for leadership of their federal party attacks the very projects that will create thousands of jobs and support families across Alberta.”
Lewis is part of a growing list of NDP voices attacking pipelines and nation-building projects. NDP MP and leadership candidate Heather McPherson voted for the West Coast tanker ban and accused Alberta of being “stuck looking backwards”. When British Columbia NDP Premier David Eby dismissed a West Coast pipeline as “fictional”, NDP MLA Jodi Calahoo shared his video on her TikTok account. In an October statement, Nenshi echoed Eby’s anti-pipeline rhetoric, claiming “there’s no route, there’s no proponent”.
“United Conservatives are delivering a generational energy agreement that doubles export capacity, ends the oil and gas emissions cap, suspends the Clean Electricity Regulations, and provides for Indigenous co-ownership of a major pipeline,” added Dyck. “As the federal leadership race heats up, every Alberta NDP MLA needs to tell Albertans if they support our MOU and a new pipeline, or if they support Heather McPherson and Avi Lewis.”
United Conservatives will continue standing with energy workers, Indigenous partners, and the families across Canada who rely on a strong Alberta energy sector.
