Today’s the big day where prime minister Mark Carney will be in Calgary to sign that Memorandum of Understanding with Alberta premier Danielle Smith regarding the province’s plans for their energy future. Everyone is focused on the potential for a pipeline to the BC coast as part of it, though it is apparently about more, such as maybe giving Albertan an out from other environmental regulations if they can complete certain other measures (which still leaves them off the hook considering that they are one of the largest emitters in the country).

But again, there is no actual pipeline deal as part of this. It lays out conditions that are probably going to be impossible to meet (particularly given that the Coastal First Nations, who are the rights and title holders in the area, have repeatedly said there is never going to be a pipeline that is acceptable). And while industry wants the tanker ban lifted, even as a “symbolic measure,” again that ban was the social licence for a number of other projects in the area to move ahead. And industry observers will still point out that even if they get everything they want, it’s still unlikely to find a proponent because the existing pipeline network can absorb the planned production capacity—and it’s no longer the world it was before 2014 and the oil market has changed significantly. That’s one reason by BC’s energy minister says this is little more than a $14 million “communications exercise.”

Meanwhile, Carney’s caucus problem is not going away, and while government thinks that they did a great job having Tim Hodgson explain things to BC caucus, members of said caucus were not exactly thrilled as Hodgson used words like “naïve” and “ideological” when responding to their concerns (thus cementing his status as the most overrated members of Carney’s front bench). And it also sounds like they’ve needed to calm Steven Guilbeault down from resigning in protest, though the current line is that he’s staying to do more good on the inside, but that’s not exactly offering much in the way of reassurance. So much of this goes back to what we were saying yesterday, that Carney is still operating like a boss and not a leader, and who thinks that he can dictate to caucus rather than live in fear that they can oust him if he oversteps (because they absolutely can, even if they don’t think they have that ability).

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-11-26T23:01:36.461Z

Ukraine Dispatch

The toll from the attack on Zaporizhzhia late Tuesday has risen to 19 injuries. The background of that “peace plan” has been leaked and proven to be Russian in origin, but Russia claims the leaks amount to “hybrid warfare.”

Good reads:

• Mark Carney announced new support measures for the steel and lumber sectors, which include quotas and market protections from imported steel.
• Carney says he plans to meet with Trump at the World Cup event in Washington next week—and that they had a call that “wasn’t newsworthy.” (Erm, really?)
• Carney also met with new Newfoundland and Labrador premier Tony Wakeham, who wants an offshore oil project to be designated as a PONI.
• Sean Fraser says that coercive control is going to be part of incoming legislation designed to deal with gender-based violence.
• The government is clearing the way for expropriations if necessary for the high-speed rail project (even though it is mostly along a disused rail corridor).
• The co-founder of a BC compassion club for drug users says he was surprised by Health Canada’s lack of urgency when it came to the toxic drug crisis.
• When the Peace Tower gets covered in scaffolding next year as part of refurbishment, it will be done with entirely Canadian steel.
• At the immigration committee, Conservatives and Bloc are trying to load the border bill with amendments to impose even more limits on asylum claimants.
• Conservatives at the fisheries and oceans committee are questioning why we need so many marine protected areas anyway. (No, seriously).
• Mélanie Joly denies that she’s in the running to be Ambassador to France.
• Bloc MP Louis Plamondon, who was first elected as a Progressive Conservative in 1984, has broken the record for longest continually-serving MP.
• Danielle Smtih says her caucus is prepared to defend their record in the face of a growing number of recall petitions.
• BC’s planned LNG projects will essentially wipe out any gains they’ve made in reducing their carbon emissions.
• A group of 40 lawyer have co-signed this op-ed warning that the government’s border bill has arbitrary powers that are too easily abused against migrants.
• Kevin Carmichael ponders the role of demographics and our aging society in the polycrisis we are facing.
• Anne Applebaum calls out Steve Witkoff’s role in prolonging the war in Ukraine and his coaching Putin on how to butter up Trump, to Ukraine’s detriment.

Odds and ends:

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— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-19T02:01:04.435Z

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