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OTTAWA — As Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith inked a new energy and pipeline pact on Thursday, a government source close to Liberal cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault, a former environment minister, says he is reflecting on his future.
Guilbeault, who currently holds the portfolio of Canadian Identity and Culture, is a long-time climate activist. The source said he will be taking the time to read his government’s new pact with Alberta in detail before making a decision.
The deal Carney inked with Smith on Thursday in Alberta sees his government agree to suspend clean electricity regulations in the province and commit to considering an “adjustment” to the federal oil tanker ban off British Columbia’s coast to pave the way for construction of a new oil pipeline.
The concessions from the federal government come in exchange for Alberta strengthening its industrial carbon price to a minimum price of $130 per tonne, up from the $95 per tonne that Smith froze the policy to earlier this year.
The commitments, formally outlined in a memorandum of understanding between Carney and Smith, outline the terms of how the two jurisdictions will work together on energy.
Before the official signing, Carney appeared alongside Smith for a sit-down, where both leaders delivered some opening remarks, with the prime minister calling Thursday “a great day for Canada” as well as a “great day for Alberta.”
Carney touted the deal as a “multifaceted agreement,” saying it sets the stage for an energy transition, “but really sets the stage for an industrial transformation.”
“At the core of the agreement, of course, it’s a priority to have a pipeline to Asia. That’s going to make Canada stronger, more independent, more resilient, more sustainable,” Carney said.
As Carney spent the past few days preparing to ink the new energy pact with Alberta, he has been dealing with some restlessness with his caucus, particularly among his more progressive Liberal MPs and those in B.C.
The source close to Guilbeault, speaking on a not-for-attribution basis because they were not authorized to discuss these matters publicly, said the minister believes he can be more useful to the climate cause and to Canada by sitting around the cabinet table than stepping down.
“He’s ready to make a lot of compromises,” said the source. “That remains true even today, even when it is more difficult.”
“He wants to be sure to make the right decision,” they added.
Guilbeault had a “long” and “candid” conversation with Carney on Tuesday, according to the source who could not disclose the contents of the conversation.
Carney did not directly answer when asked by a reporter in Calgary after signing the deal whether he would be able to keep Guilbeault in his cabinet.
The document signing has been touted as an important step by both Alberta and Carney’s government to help transform Canada into a “global energy superpower,” as the prime minister promised during the spring federal election campaign. The deal also outlines how both Alberta and Canada “remain committed” to achieving net-zero emissions by 2025.
To do so, the deal spells out a series of projects both jurisdictions agree to collaborate on, including “construction of one or more private sector constructed and financed pipelines,” that would carry “one million barrels a day of low-emission Alberta bitumen” to Asian markets.
It clarifies that the new pipeline project would be in addition to the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
B.C Premier David Eby has so far rejected the idea of a new oil pipeline being constructed to his province’s coast, as have coastal First Nations, who have said they have been shut out of the talks between Ottawa and Alberta.
Speaking to reporters in Calgary, Carney said the pact with Alberta was “a first step,” with several more steps needing to unfold before any pipeline construction could begin, with the first being a private sector proponent coming forward.
“If there’s not a private sector component, there won’t be a pipeline,” the prime minister said.
Smith’s United Conservative Party government is currently acting as the proponent for the pipeline project, with the deal underlining that she would formally apply to the federal major projects office, which Carney established to help streamline the approvals process, by next July. Smith has said her goal would be for a private proponent to eventually take over the project
Carney said on Thursday that other steps required for the project include finding equity ownership among First Nations in Alberta and B.C., as well as collaboration with B.C.
The deal also links a new bitumen pipeline from Alberta to the advancement of a massive carbon capture and storage project in the province, a project Carney and Smith commit to negotiating a trilateral agreement on with the oilsands partner behind the proposal.
“This agreement is about much more than just a pipeline,” Carney said on Thursday. He pointed to the carbon capture and storage project as well as an agreement in the deal to work with Alberta on building new AI data centres, building out the province’s nuclear capacity, and the construction of new transmission systems with B.C. and Saskatchewan.
In terms of other commitments, Smith signed on to work with Ottawa on negotiating a new industrial carbon pricing agreement before April 1, 2026, which would then formalize the suspension of the clean electricity regulations.
The deal spells out that Ottawa would immediately suspend the regulations in exchange for Alberta hiking its industrial carbon price, which it froze earlier this year.
The document also commits Alberta and Ottawa to negotiate on a new methane equivalency agreement before April 2026, which would set a target of reducing methane emissions by 75 per cent below 2014 levels by 2035.
Carney committed his government to declaring that the pipeline proposal was a nation-building project, and if ultimately approved under a special cabinet designation, his government “would enable the export of bitumen from a strategic deep-water port to Asian markets, including if necessary through an appropriate adjustment to the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act.
More to come …
National Post
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