More details are emerging about the Memorandum of Understanding that prime minister Mark Carney looks set to sign with Alberta premier Danielle Smith on Thursday, which would set the stage for political support for a pipeline to the northwest coast of BC if certain conditions are met. Those conditions include a stricter industrial carbon price in the province, and a “multibillion-dollar investment in carbon capture from the Pathways Alliance,” and there is apparently some language about Indigenous ownership and equity. In return, it looks like Alberta also gets a bunch of exemptions from other environmental legislation, which it would seem to me is just setting up fights with every other province who will want their own special deals and carve-outs.
BC premier David Eby is rightfully upset about being left out of the process (as Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe initially claimed he was part of the talks, which turned out to be mere self-aggrandisement). And while it’s true that the province can’t veto a project that falls under federal jurisdiction (and we have Supreme Court jurisprudence on this), it definitely feels impolitic to freeze him out, considering that making an agreement with Smith to overrule Eby’s stated wishes—and the wishes of the coastal First Nations—certainly has the feel of the US and Russia coming up with a “peace plan” for Ukraine. Eby also, correctly, points out that they would never do this with Quebec, which is a good point.
This being said, this remains about a hypothetical pipeline that may never come to fruition because they are unlikely to get a private sector proponent, because the oil market changed in 2014 and Alberta refuses to accept that fact. What I am more concerned about is just how many billions of public dollars are going to be consume by Pathways in order to try and make it viable, and it just won’t be, and we’ll have wasted years, billions of dollars, both of which could have been better spent coming up with a more reasonable transition to a greener future, because again, it’s not 2014 anymore.
Ukraine Dispatch
Russian drones and missiles have hit residential buildings in Kyiv, starting fires and killing at least one person. Ukrainian officials are apparently working with the Americans on the so-called “28-point peace plan” to make it more palatable.
Good reads:
- Mark Carney is contemplating a trip to Washington next week.
- Anita Anand insists that they are still taking public safety and trans-national repression seriously as they engage in trade talks with India.
- Those trade talks will appear to also include a deal to supply India with uranium for the next ten years, which is a new deal and not a renewal of the previous deal.
- Sean Fraser announced the creation of a new seven-member private sector economic advisory committee for the Atlantic region.
- Marjorie Michel is non-committal about expanding pharmacare and the “expert report” on doing so (likely because of the provincial buy-in required).
- While Mélanie Joly heads to South Korea to talk submarine procurement, a Norwegian firm partnering with the German bidder is talking Arctic partnerships.
- The Interim PBO wants more transparency from the government on its fiscal anchors and how it determines what is “capital spending.”
- The Logic delves into the issue of “economic corridors” and why they’re much easier said than done, despite what Carney is promising.
- An Ontario First Nation is looking to create a sovereign wealth fund to help increase Indigenous participation in major projects.
- Migrant rights groups are calling on the government to withdraw its border bill because of the way it runs roughshod on the rights of asylum claimants.
- Conservative and Bloc MPs at the ethics committee grilled Brookfield COO Justin Beber (seriously) to say that Carney is in conflicts of interest. He didn’t.
- Here is an explainer on the increasing number of UCP MLAs in Alberta facing recall petitions, now that Danielle Smith made them easier.
- Charlie Warzel delves into the meltdown over Twitter this past weekend when the location feature revealed just how much of the content is foreign rage-bait.
- Mike Moffatt gets some clarity on just what Build Canada Homes hopes to accomplish, and why they won’t be able to meet those goals.
- Susan Delacourt divines what signals Poilievre is trying to send by appointing Steve Outhouse as his new campaign chair.
Odds and ends:
New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I talk about why it's a Very Bad Idea for a committee to interview PBO candidates #cdnpoli
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T04:18:28.208Z
Hey BSers! Need a copy of my book, for yourself or for a holiday gift? @dundurnpress.bsky.social is having their holiday sale! Use code HOLIDAY25 to save 25% on this, or any Dundurn book. Check out my book #UnbrokenMachine, or the book I contributed a chapter to, #RoyalProgress.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-19T02:01:04.435Z
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