Alberta Is Spending $5 Million to Win BC Indigenous Pipeline Support Alberta Is Spending $5 Million to Win BC Indigenous Pipeline Support

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Well-connected lobbyists and consultants have been given contracts to smooth the way.
Andrew MacLeod
27 May 2026
27 May 2026The Tyee
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's legislative bureau chief in Victoria and the author of All Together Healthy (Douglas & McIntyre, 2018). Reach him at emailE = 'thetyee.ca' emailE = ('amacleod' + '@' + emailE) document.write('' + emailE + '') amacleod@thetyee.ca. Email address protected by JavaScript
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Well-connected lobbyists and consultants have been given contracts to smooth the way. … Article written by Andrew MacLeod.
Alberta taxpayers are already spending millions on consultants to smooth the way with Indigenous nations for a new pipeline through British Columbia to the Pacific coast, a proposal that so far has been met with strident opposition.
The biggest spending is $3.4 million with Sedgwick Strategies, a Delta-based company whose president, Byng Giraud, is a veteran of developing major projects and a longtime organizer for provincial and federal conservatives and the BC Liberals.
Most recently Giraud was instrumental to the development of the Woodfibre liquefied natural gas export facility currently under construction near Squamish. He was the company's first employee in North America and moved from serving as the president of corporate affairs to becoming the country manager on the project.
A recipient of the Order of British Columbia for his work on Indigenous economic reconciliation, Giraud has also been chairman of Ridley Terminals Inc., vice-president of the Association for Mineral Exploration BC and vice-president of the Mining Association of BC.
Giraud has worked on many political campaigns over the years, including a 2009 turn as co-campaign manager for then-natural resources minister Gary Lunn in Saanich-Gulf Islands that was memorable for unexplained robocalls and close connections between Lunn's campaign and third-party advertisers.
Another $1.1 million is committed by Alberta to Blackfish Enterprises Ltd. in North Vancouver. The company's principal is Chris Sankey, a former Lax Kw'alaams Band elected councillor and a controversial Conservative Party of BC candidate in North Coast-Haida Gwaii in the 2024 provincial election.
Sankey's consulting company promotes Indigenous participation in the mainstream economy as key to reconciliation. He has argued in the National Post in favour of a new pipeline and against a tanker ban on B.C.'s northwest coast.
During the 2024 election campaign Sankey was targeted by opponents for "allegedly saying that COVID-19 vaccines caused AIDS and denying the Jan. 6, 2021, riots by Donald Trump supporters," according to CBC. A statement from Sankey's campaign manager to the Canadian Press didn't address the questions, the CBC story said, but accused the NDP of trying to "cancel" the candidate.
The Tyee reported on a Sankey tweet from 2022 that linked to a video of a speech by far-right Alternative for Germany politician Christine Anderson, which alleged then-prime minister Justin Trudeau had violated the human rights of convoy protesters. Sankey responded to questions from The Tyee by posting comments on X saying the questions were unfair and attacking the credibility of both the reporter and The Tyee.
B.C. First Nations leaders have been vocal opponents of a new pipeline through the province.
On Thursday the Union of BC Indian Chiefs released a statement saying the organization "is unequivocally opposed to renewed efforts by the federal and Alberta governments to advance a new oil pipeline to the British Columbia coast."
Responding to announcements by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith about an agreement on a...