If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn't going to stand up for Alberta, local MLA Peter Guthrie believes Trudeau should eliminate Alberta's non-renewable resources from the equalization payment program.

Guthrie believes it's clear our prime minister is on-side with US President Joe Biden's agenda and doesn't support Alberta's resource-based economy.

On his first day in office, the new American president lived up to his campaign promise of cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline.

Guthrie is disappointed the action was taken by the Biden administration without any consultation with Alberta officials to discuss the pros and cons. He's particularly disappointed with the lack of reaction by Prime Minister Trudeau.

"Trudeau has not stood up for Alberta jobs or the Alberta economy and yesterday's KXL announcement was no exception," says Guthrie.

"If Trudeau doesn't want to stand up for Alberta, he should immediately be changing the equalization formula and exclude non-renewal resources. It's resources he doesn't want anyway, so change the equalization formula."

He says the US is not energy self-sufficient and will continue to import oil and natural gas to meet their needs.

"The supply goes down, and the demand is still going up. So, they're going to leave themself in a shortage situation, and the supply of ethically produced Canadian oil and gas should be the key strategy in lowering world GHD emissions"

He believes Canada should follow the American model and start putting the needs of our country first.

"We need to start putting our interests first, and we need to support Alberta by standing up for KXL. We need to remove legislation like C-69 and 48, we've got to work on growing our economy here at home."

Despite the setback, Guthrie remains optimistic because of the rising price for both oil and natural gas and the continued demand being demonstrated by the United States.

Premier Jason Kenney has called upon the Trudeau government to immediately enter into talks with the Biden administration on their cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline in the context of a broader agreement on energy supply and climate action.