Alberta Premier Danielle Smith must have experienced a strong feeling of déjà vu yesterday as she announced her grand pipeline bargain with Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney – after all, she’s switched teams and crossed the floor before.
Unlike the last time, in December 2014, yesterday’s announcement wasn’t technically a parliamentary floor crossing, but as they say, “it was close enough for government work.”
As Winston S. Churchill, that notorious double floor crosser supposedly observed: “Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat.”
No one can deny that Premier Smith has demonstrated a certain amount of ingenuity. Expect an early election call shortly, before Ms. Smith’s less devoted voters realize that the pipeline tout le monde political Alberta was celebrating yesterday is unlikely ever to be built.
The jury remains out on whether the same thing can be said of Mr. Carney. He is already experiencing some of the backlash predicted yesterday in this space. Former federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault’s swift resignation from the federal cabinet may have been greeted with cheers and laughter in the Alberta Legislature, and possibly the PMO as well, but there is likely more to come.
Keep an eye on what happens in the Liberals’ West Coast Caucus, heavily concentrated in green-tinged areas of Vancouver. The question is not going to be whether the government will eventually lose seats in Vancouver, but how many?
Be that as it may, after two years of nurturing and encouraging Alberta’s separatists to put pressure on the former Trudeau government, Premier Smith has obviously realized they are becoming a liability and she doesn’t need them anymore. They will presumably get short shrift.
Likewise, she clearly understood that she’d never get as good a deal from Pierre Poilievre as she just did from the prime minister, so the Honourable Member for Battle River-Crowfoot will have to go over the side as well.
As for Ms. Smith and Mr. Carney, they were all smiles yesterday, just like Ms. Smith and Progressive Conservative Premier Jim Prentice were 11 years ago. Mr. Carney even dropped by to meet the curated audience and pose for pictures before Ms. Smith’s news conference.
“Prime Minister Mark Carney and I may not always agree on everything,” the premier enthused. “But we do share a few key beliefs. … And I am pleased to say that this prime minister has made it clear to me that he is willing to work with me and Alberta’s government to accomplish that shared goal. And that, my friends, is something that we have not seen from a Canadian prime minister in over a decade.”
Well, why wouldn’t she be happy? The memorandum of understanding they signed guts the Trudeau era environmental restrictions so hated by Alberta’s oil patch, at least as far as this province is concerned.
“I had a pretty happy caucus when we talked about it yesterday,” Ms. Smith crowed at the news conference. “One of the things I wanted was no export taxes or restrictions on Alberta oil and gas. Well, we got that. A complete re-do of C-69? Well, not only are we going to get that through the Major Projects Office, but we’re going to have an agreement that intra-provincial agreements are going to be approved by us, and there’s going to be a rewrite of that bill. Emissions cap? Gone. Carbon pricing stays provincial. We’ve got that. The clean electricity regulation scrapped. We got that. Tanker ban carve out? We got that. The censorship of energy. We got that. That’s seven out of nine. That’s not so bad!”
Ms. Smith also scoffed at the possibility of objections to the putative pipeline to Prince Rupert from British Columbia. “British Columbia tried to use every tool in their toolbox, I guess that was the term that they used before, and failed,” she said. “It was clearly affirmed by the courts that this is not British Columbia’s decision to make.” As for North Coast First Nations, she seems to feel they can be talked down or bought off.
It’s hard to imagine that hearing this will please even British Columbians who support the idea of a pipeline from Alberta to the sea. Perhaps someone there will suggest a solution might be passing something like the B.C. Sovereignty (Within a United Canada) Act. I mean, why not?
Meanwhile, you’ll never hear this said by anyone associated with the UCP – certainly not at the party AGM that opens tomorrow – but it doesn’t really matter to Ms. Smith if the accelerating electrification of Asia led by China means there will be no Far Eastern market for diluted bitumen by the time the pipeline is supposed to start operating in 2040.
What matters to the premier and her strategic team is that a political party mired in scandal and incompetence, bedevilled by a burgeoning recall campaign, finally has an issue it can campaign on and win. Don’t expect them not to use it, and quickly.
But not before they vote to repeal the Recall Act, once the epitome of democracy according to the UCP and now a dangerous nuisance to it, sometime next week.
As also predicted here yesterday, the Opposition NDP’s response was not fit for purpose. “This MOU is good for Alberta,” chirped NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi in a 200-word news release. “We need more pipeline capacity, energy exports, and the oil and gas jobs that come with it. … Alberta’s New Democrats have had success building pipelines with TMX – we know what it takes. It’s time for everyone to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work to get it done.” Lame.
It was interesting how, during the news conference, representatives of insignificant far-right publications were given the opportunity to bloviate at length while The Globe and Mail was relegated to tail-end Charlie when the clock had almost run out and rudely told to hurry it up.
One also wonders what role if any Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean had to play in all this. Premier Smith mentioned in passing that he was at the newser, but passed over him when it was time to thank “our negotiating team.” The only photo of him on the government’s Flickr site showed only his back side, not his newly clean shaven face.
As for the rumour the PM was about to give Mr. Guilbeault an ambassadorship somewhere safely far away, I suppose that’s off now that the former environment minister has decided to remain in Parliament, perhaps as a thorn in Mr. Carney’s side. Well, maybe the ambassadorship can go to some other no-longer-wanted former federal environment minister, say, Jonathan Wilkinson, MP for North Vancouver-Capilano.
Today’s announcement, it should be noted, also conveniently distracted from some not-so-good second-quarter Alberta fiscal news, with the provincial deficit still estimated at about $6.4 billion. Non-renewable resource revenue is forecast to be $15.4 billion in 2025-26, down 39 per cent from a peak of $25.2 billion in 2022-23. Oil prices are expected to stay low, the news release admitted.
Where has the time gone? I remember that mass floor crossing of Wildrose MLAs like it was yesterday. Preston Manning admitted that he had something to do with it, and it was a failed attempt to unite the right. It also gave concrete proof who who Danielle Smith was most concerned about, which was herself. After this failed, Preston Manning had to concede that it was a bad idea, and Danielle Smith even got dumped in her own riding. Before, this happened, Danielle Smith was opposed to MLAs crossing the floor.
If there is a snap provincial election in Alberta, the UCP and Danielle Smith will get a well deserved defeat, it’s because of how horrible of a government they are. This is for many good reasons. AISH recipients have had strong cuts, and face uncertainty with ADAP. Those in the public education system, such as teachers and students were shamefully treated, and striking teachers were bullied by Danielle Smith with the Notwithstanding Clause. Destructive and environmentally unfriendly open pit coal mining is being done, to keep billionaire coal mining company executives happy. Peter Lougheed’s 1976 Coal Policy was removed. Seniors have had extra financial burdens put on them. Power prices have skyrocketed. Doctors, nurses, and healthcare staff, were not treated with respect. The CPP of Albertans is being compromised by a provincial pension plan that Albertans do not support. The R.C.M.P is being replaced with a provincial police force that also has no support, and it comes with a big cost. Democracy in Alberta is being mocked by the UCP, in a variety of ways. Danielle Smith and her UCP MLAs believe they are above the law. Measles case rates have been soaring in Alberta, and surpass rates in North America. Very expensive boondoogles keep happening, which can even cost billions of dollars. It can go on and on. If the fools who are returning to their own folly, because they don’t see anything wrong with this, will vote again for the UCP, it will get worse. That mistake was made in Ontario and in Saskatchewan. There are enough angry people in Alberta to not do that. The UCP and Danielle Smith are phony Conservatives and Reformers, and deserve to be defeated. They are even worse than Ralph Klein was, and that says alot. Peter Lougheed didn’t respect Ralph Klein, and it’s easy to see why. Danielle Smith wasn’t someone he was fond of either.
Steven Guilbeault’s departure seems fishy. Mark Carney is trying to keep Danielle Smith quiet. Regardless, I think that Danielle Smith is gone. The UCP are also going to get tossed out. Very well deserved, when it does happen.
You repeat something I’ve seen regularly, that the UCP are “phony Conservatives and Reformers,” which gives away which side you are on, but now that politics has arguably become BINARY, unavoidable when one side “loses its mind” and/or ushers in the despicable likes of a TRUMP or a Poilievre, not to mention that ONE SIDE and one side only no longer accepts SCIENCE, including the science of existential climate change, well I have to break it to you that your party has not only left YOU, it’s left the room.
And even if its resurrected, the brand has truly been “enshittified,” like the internet….
Tris Pargeter: Calling a spade a spade is telling it exactly like it is. The UCP are phony Conservatives and Reformers. Look at where that has gotten us.
The UCP getting fired by voters because of the scandals and the malfeasance and their general incompetence assumes that voters exercise their franchise based on a rational weighing of the pros and cons of a party’s policies — an assertion that I feel is not supported by the available evidence.
As for the NDP and pipeline proposal, let’s be clear: support for pipelines is Holy Writ here in Oilbertastan, and any opposition to pipelines, no matter how valid and well-reasoned it might be, spells doom and political irrelevance to whatever party is foolish enough to express it, or even hint at it.
Our choice at the next election is not a pro-pipeline party versus an anti-pipeline party. It’s a pro-pipeline party that otherwise supports ordinary people and their families, and a pro-pipeline party that hates ordinary people and their families.
PP..” Carney, GET OUT OF THE WAY ” so we can build pipes east, west etc.”
PP.. ” This is a pipedream ”
So the MP for BR-C/ Alberta has been pushing for pipelines for years, now says that the Premier of his riding, is signing a pipeline deal that’s a pipedream.
Is that why Marlaina wore the pepe la pew suit?
And I suppose it’s totally coincidental that the signing was scheduled for the day before her leadership review.
As far as I could tell, when pressed by Vassy Capelo(?) she was either deflecting the question about the ‘carbon tax’ or she was in the don’t spoil my win with technacalities.
According to our local island poll tonight … Do you believe the pipeline will be built from Alberta to BC….3417 people
56% NO —– 44% YES
I haven’t made a judgment yet about the pipeline; or where/if its going, because I believe their are other factors in play that could change the whole scenario.
Now the Skippy has his “date” of July 1st deadline, I wonder if he’s going to be hounding Marlaina like he was the PM.
Does anyone know if the recall petition is limited to the MLAs of Alberta or does it apply to the MPs as well– talk about egregious!!
MLA’s only, but there are people from across the country that would also like to sign. One thing I find interesting about rolling back the recall thing is that it’s another repudiation of the defining tenets of Manning’s old Reform agenda, along with privatization of everything generally (Dyna- Life), but the truth about these religious right-wing nutbars is that it simply DOES NOT MATTER because they’re simply incapable of learning, especially from mistakes apparently.
I think this speaks to the fundamental lack of intelligence of conservatives generally.
Did Smith’s pal Preston Manning suggest that the MOU be crafted to look like the Ten Commandments?
Simon–…LOL That might raise some eyebrows amongst her Christian followers, that’s why she only had 9.
In other words the pipeline is a ruse to pull the wool over the eyes of the electorate. In this climate crisis era, the UCP continue to deny the obvious, beholden to Trump and his acolytes, they are world destroyers without a shred of decency in their cells.
Will Albertans will wake up and vote the UCP out of office? Really, the sooner the better. May the majority of Albertans see the light and seize the opportunity to oust the UCP. However, should the UCP prevail, many more people will relocate out of Alberta, at least those who can afford to do so and Hellberta will continue to become the wasteland that the UCP envision in preparation for the rapture. Why vote for mismanagement, anti Canadian zealots, liars, thugs and criminals? A vote for the UCP is a vote for the GOP in the sense that Smith et al love the convicted felon, sexual predator, and provocateur. Why would anyone support this? Those who support the UCP are morally bankrupt. They are in part religious extremists and other part lunatics of all stripes. Still, one cannot deny that Alberta is unique in voting for the Conservatives for decades, which has resulted in the loss of billions of dollars. This is a place of utter insanity, apathy, contempt, hatred, intolerance, bigotry, cruelty, and perfidy, Hellberta. Smith is a fascist autocrat. She is seditious. Nonetheless, perhaps there are enough informed Albertans who will vote ABC and turn the tide. May the people of Alberta rise up and tell the UCP that their lying government is offensive and unacceptable.
A very serious concern I have about the MOU is how a pipeline will be paid for. In the announcement yesterday it was emphasized that construction will be paid for with private funds, not public. That sounds wonderful, but my concern is that the provincial government will offer some kind of guarantee to an interested but reluctant pipeline company. The guarantee will, of course, need pension funds, either from AIMCO or from the Alberta Pension Plan after the UCP takes control of Alberta’s share of the CPP.
Yes, and the UCP have indicated they plan to pass a law preventing people suing AIM Co in the Courts.
Exactly! Where will that money come. AIMCO/teachers? Alberta Pension Plan? We need to watch where this money comes from because private money is not going to front this.
I predict that the provincial government will sign a long term shipping agreement with a pipeline proponent. Now that they are collecting bitumen royalties in kind, they have more than enough volume to make a pipeline “viable”. We, the people of Alberta, may not go on the hook for construction costs but may stuck with a long term take or pay shipping contract. This could very well be worse than paying for the pipeline in the first place.
Carney gave Alberta an imaginary pipeline that will never be built – there is no support in BC, no proponents to build it, and no economic case in a world awash in cheap oil. As such, Carney and the Alberta NDP can and should support an imaginary pipeline because an imaginary pipeline can’t harm the real-world environment. Folks wringing their hands over Carney and Nenshi’s “betrayal” of the environment can calm themselves – the alternatives are Pierre Poilievre and Danielle Smith – people who can and will do real harm to the environment, our healthcare, our education systems, and marginalized groups throughout our society. British Columbians and folks in Quebec thinking of dumping their Liberal MPs will simply hand the next election to Poilievre, all over an imaginary pipeline.
It looks like Carney got rid of the carbon tax then got Smith to agree to a higher carbon tax. Next he’ll offer some magic beans.
Albertans are like children. Trivially manipulated and easily distracted.
This is a country in which Brad Wall, Scott Moe, Bill Vander Zalm, Mike Harris and the Ford brothers have been elected to public office.
Looking at all the stunned faces yesterday, it seemed more like Mark Carney was the floor-crosser, no? And, the self-satisfied, victorious look on Smith’s face sure reinforced that impression. I’m just trying to figure out the why of it all, or should we have seen something like this coming when Guibault was moved to a rather milquetoast portfolio when Mark Carney won the federal election for the Liberals? All the murmurs in the mist (that seem like eons ago) about Carney possibly running for the Liberals when the tides turned on Trudeau- were those put out there by the oil industry?
I realize there’s “stuff” Mark Carney has to perform now, given Trump’s menace, but ALL THAT? From an Albertan who has watched with dismay as the UCP have gone on their destructive spree against modern medicine, public education and health care, trans kids, social programs, unions, the environment, democracy, even Canada itself- it’s hard to see Mark Carney abandon us so cheerfully. Or did he figure, after so few Liberal seats were won here and a few jacked up trucks started pasting their “F”Carney bumper stickers over their “F” Trudeau ones, “Screw you Alberta! You want Poilievre, and Smith, and the UCP? You’ve got ‘em! Good luck with all that?” And leaving B.C. out of all this finagling, seriously? And First Nations? That’s just plain rude. Just reflect on all the outrage the Alberta government would have if the shoe was on the other foot? Did the threat of the “51st State” from tiny batshit crowd here move the needle?
There was a lot of head-shaking, eye-rolling, and mortified looks with the “At Issue” panel of journalists on CBC last night. If they can’t figure out what’s going on …
My head hurts. I’m going back to my Christmas baking.
David, this is just pie in the sky. It feels like B.C., the First Nations and the environment, just got thrown under the bus, because of big egos. And although I’m not a big fan of Steven Guilbeault, he did earn my respect, for standing up for what he believes in.
If he was standing neck high in cow dung he still wouldn’t get my respect!
Lots of chatter that Mark Carney is in reality a Conservative. Maybe so. Or maybe he sees political opportunity in moving the Liberals towards the centre right? His ‘nation building’ schtick will appeal to former Progressive Conservatives who no longer feel at home in PP’s MAGA lite party. Hence, Carney’s all in on building a pipeline! (It will never be built.) As for the impact of the MOU on Alberta politics, this might backfire on Smith. She’s gifting her base a pipeline. They want an independence referendum. They don’t want an agreement of any sort with Ottawa. They want an Alberta republic. Not saying the separatists are all that bright, but they are single minded. They know she hasn’t delivered on her (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) promise of a referendum. And Smith can’t win an election without them. Time for the UCP to oust another leader?? Hmmm, maybe that’s why Brian Jean no longer looks like a Duck Dynasty wannabe.
Hippie: Excellent point about BJ’s tonsorial modifications. DJC
Carney right now seems to be moving the LPC right in attempts to peel CPC supporters away from the party. He’s been trying to speak their language, and I think there is a very clear reason for this. Most people voting for the LPC or NDP are generally paying attention to policy, and Carney knows anyone actually paying attention to policy is never going to vote for the PP’s CPC, their policy is objectively terrible.
Watching Smith getting booed at the AGM makes sense, they have to be pleased with themselves, before they started dumping money into this “Trudeau is dividing the country” narrative, which prompted the conservative establishment in Canada to start funnelling money into groups promoting separatist talking points, all those Proud groups popped up after Harper lost. They have to be feeling good about this campaign of being so wildly successful, even if it messes with their plans. She probably looks out into that crowd and sees hears a cash register opening in the background.
I think the most likely outcome, assuming there really is a need for more dilbit heading west, is another capacity expansion of TransMountain or TMX 2.o as it were.
I also wonder why no one advocates upgrading the dilbit here in Alberta so we can send out a higher grade and higher value product. Oh wait! That would mean turning our back on our decades-old addiction to the “strip to and ship it” business model.
Cu Jo: It’s a very interesting question that you ask. Once upon a time, the Alberta Federation of Labour used to advocate forcefully for that, complaining that we were sending jobs and money “down the pipeline.” Why did that change? It wasn’t coincidence. Once the NDP had set its heart on a pipeline, that was the end of that. DJC
No it wasn’t coincidence and I suspect the answer to that question is “Sturgeon Refinery” the most recent refinery built in Canada I believe. It’s a complicated mess and I don’t really understand the details but it seems to be a $10B boondoggle for 50,000 bpd of capacity. Upgrading our products with the jobs that go with that is popular with the electorate (me too) but with the current complicated worldwide petroleum situation there may be reasons that few or no refineries are being built. Most commentators here believe the demand for petroleum products is going to plummet – so we should build a refinery? The Sturgeon refinery was started by the AB Progressive Conservatives and promoted by the UCP but even Rachel Notley’s NDP slow-walked the thing realizing its problems.
Mickey: The Sturgeon Refinery is part of this story for sure. But I also believe the Houston-based oil majors, which have heavy oil refining capacity in the U.S. Midwest and on the Gulf (of Mexico) Coast, don’t want competition in Canada. DJC
Mackey Rat: The Sturgeon Refinery is not a $10 billion boondoogle. It’s a $35 billion boondoogle.
Cu Jo: A decade ago, the Alberta PCs were finally dumped. One of many factors was the Redwater upgrader fiasco that came to light. It had a total cost of $35 billion. The UCP had to pump billions of dollars into it, to try and keep it going. The upgrader is a money sucking venture, due to low oil prices.
I thought Nenshi’s response to the MOU was clear and hardly lame. If there is going to be an early election next year, the Alberta NDP definitely does not want to fight the UCP on the fantasy pipeline. Not with 74% of Albertans supporting the idea of a pipeline to BC’s North Coast according to an Angus Reid poll released yesterday, 56% strongly supporting. And not with so many other issues (queue jumping, the notwithstanding clause, the restrictions on renewables, the coal lease payouts etc.) on which the UCP is more vulnerable.
TMX actually in construction didn’t give Notley an election win. Smith won’t get one with an just an MOU.
Her trash pump (the mou) doesn’t have the capacity for teachers strike/nwc, 2x health care scandals, ahs restructuring, seperatism footsie, general assholery, etc.
Her only real hope is Nenshi & NDP blowing an election campaign. Which is a very real and scary possibility.
What precisely is the NDP going to run on that they could “blow” an election? The province’s electorate is pretty much divided between people with some semblance of a relation to reality and the yokels but nobody has a clue how to deal with the enormous economic issues facing everyone on earth. Rand recommended the destruction of the price of oil back in 2019 as a means of damaging Russia, and lo and behold if oil the whole globe hasn’t turned into the Clampetts’ back forty, althought it doesn’t seem to have slowed down the Russians very much. Which is neither here nor there except to demonstrate that in a clapped-out petrostate like Albertistan, an election win with the kind of division in Alberta is a crap-shoot because nobody really has a clue about what is actually the impetus behind the economy. So far one dead from measles this year in the province, hundreds of homeless Alberta junkies gone to their reward in that time. So what really are the pressing issues?
By being timid and not rattling her cage.
I saw her derail at her Edmonton town hall gong show. It didn’t really take much. Getting put on the spot in regards to signing Lukcazuk’s petition, and then getting grilled by a young man who was receiving abysmal treatment from AHS.
I have deep reservations that the NDP will fail to “go for the jugular”, allowing her to weasel in again.
Murphy: What the UCP are doing, many Albertans oppose. All the sweet talking that Danielle Smith will muster is meaningless. She simply won’t stand a chance against Naheed Nenshi in any leadership debate. He has known her for so long that she can’t outwit him. Naheed Nenshi has known Danielle Smith ever since they were students at the University of Calgary in the early 1990s. In fact, Danielle Smith is buckling under the pressure, because the Alberta Legislature sessions have been extended to December 11.
Nenshi has already blown it big time. He is not and never was a social democrat. He is very happy with this MOU, drill baby drill. I can easily see who will win the next election and it will not be the NDP.
Carlos: The UCP’s massive corruption, and outright lies is going to end them. So is their twisted agenda, which Albertans outright oppose. There is no way around that for Danielle Smith. The MH Care (Corrupt Care) scandal is still there, and is still being investigated. A provincial police force that is detested, coal mining on the eastern slopes, that is hated with a passion, a provincial pension plan, which has no support, AISH reforms, which will make people poorer, among others, will not bode well for the UCP.
Thanks for your political insights, but you repeated the common misperception that Prince Rupert would be the preferred terminus for the hypothetical northern BC dilbit pipeline. The Enbridge Northern Gateway proposal chose Kitimat over Prince Rupert for good reasons:
• The Skeena River valley is very narrow for several stretches west of Terrace – barely wide enough for the highway and railway – with no room to lay a dilbit pipeline a safe distance from the river and its important fishery. As a result, a pipeline to Prince Rupert would need to traverse the steep, rocky terrain of the Coast Mountains, as well as the challenging dips and rises to cross one or more river valleys.
• The route from Alberta to Kitimat is shorter.
• The Douglas Channel from Kitimat is an established shipping route, currently plied by LNG carriers and previously used by methanol tankers and oil barges.
• The seismic risk to pipeline and terminals is much higher at Prince Rupert compared to Kitimat. The three largest recorded earthquakes in Canada occurred in the Cascadia Subduction Zone offshore Haida Gwai, up to magnitude 8.1 in 1949. Historic evidence indicates that an even larger one, around magnitude 9, occurred in 1700. Risk in Kitimat is mitigated by distance.
However, Indigenous people in the Kitimat area and along the Douglas Channel were among the strongest opponents to Northern Gateway. They are already enjoying the benefits of LNG projects, with more in prospect.
Robert: While I acknowledge you are an exert on this topic, which I am not, I have to disagree with you about your third bullet point. As a glance at a map will show, Prince Rupert’s huge natural harbour is far easier (and safer) to get in and out of in any kind of vessel than the long trip up the fjord known as Douglas Channel to Kitimat. Points 1 and 4 are bang on, as I can attest from the time I lived in Prince Rupert. As for Point 2, I’ve never bothered to measure the distance, but I will take your word for it. Regardless of all that, however, as long as the Powers That Be continue to speak of the planned terminus of the pipeline as Prince Rupert, I will describe it that way. When they end their sleight of hand or misinformed intention and admit Kitimat is intended as the terminus, my nomenclature will change.
Yes lest we forget, Smith has quite the history as a political chameleon. Perhaps over the last several years, her consistent and unrelenting bashing of the Feds led some to believe she had become predictable. Well, surprise! The chameleon is back.
Lets also not forget that Smith had trouble bringing along many in the Wildrose years ago when she surprised them with her floor crossing to the PC’s. I feel this time, there will also be reluctance by her more fervent supporters to suddenly enthusiastically embrace her new arrangement, this time with the Feds.
Of course, Smith was getting dragged down by a number of problems and unpopular decisions, including recall campaigns, so perhaps she figured her best hope was to pivot, or maybe she just decided to take advantage of an opportunity that presented itself. I suppose a snap election will help with her recall problems, but I am not sure it will go as well as she hopes, also partly because her most eager supporters are probably not very enthusiastic about any agreement with the Feds.
The Federal Liberals have a long history of frustrating their opponents on the left and the right with their pragmatism, or flexibility, so I feel they may come out of this fine. They seem good at reading the shifting public mood, which of course is why we no longer have a consumer carbon tax now. Yes, Carney may lose some support to the NDP on the left, but he will likely gain some support on the centre right. So the big loser Federally from this could be Poilievre, although he may be correct about no pipeline being built because of this agreement, something it seems Smith wants to conveniently ignore or dismiss for now. Oddly, for all the Conservative Premiers Canada has, Poilievre does not seem to have many strong allies among them now.
I wonder how long the after glow of this MOU will last. I have a feeling it will not be for long and it may turn out to be like peace in our time, the agreement before WWII that changed little in the end, but probably seemed important at the time.
This article from National Observer by Max Fawcett gives me some comfort:
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/27/opinion/method-mark-carney-madness
Remember it is still a minority government, so Guilbeault’s vote as an MP still has value, or even the possibility of him crossing the floor. Global News’s timeline of Guilbeault resigning from cabinet has interesting information about him getting Elizabeth May to vote for the budget on condition it did not have certain measures, which measures are now part of the MOU. So I wonder if May and Guilbeault feel manipulated by Carney?
It was a Canadian Press timeline.
Nobody at the Globe sees this pipeline bullshit as Carney placating Marlaina with a pie-in-the-sky project to quash separatism and get her to shut her stupid yap for a while. Instead, Friday’s editorial was practically orgasmic in its enthusiastic burbling about how wonderful the pipeline will be, and dismissing the very real and very justified anger of coastal Indigenous communities as something that can be easily bought off, ignored or overruled by the feds. Andrew Coyne jumped on the bandwagon, as did Gary Mason the other day, with the latter ignoring the well-documented dangers of running oil tankers through the Hecate Strait. Paying lip service to Indigenous rights is all well and good apparently until there is money to be made by trampling on those rights. All I could think when reading all this bumph was WTF? I was happy though to see Marlaina booed by her base at the AGM. Will they see her as a traitor who has abandoned separatism to get in bed with the feds? Will they oust her? I hope not, because if she is replaced by one of her MLAs as leader, the sheeple will dutifully trot to the polls and vote the United Crap Party back in under new management. Better to see the public vote her out. Also dispiriting though was that business leaders in Calgary were salivating over the pipeline MOU and cheering for Smith. Will we EVER be rid of this fascist maniac?
Thanksgiving, you say? Pastor Presto and his acolytes gathered together…plotting? Lame lamentations from Nenshi? A double-crossing, double-crosser in a close shave with BJ? Enough already.
I still believe Premier Ditzy has fallen under the Prime minister’s Jedi mind spell. She misheard him guaranteeing a pipeline. But if there are no private sector proponents, then the MOU fails. The only way out of this is Ditzy directing a crown corporation (but which ?) to become the lead proponent. The taxpayer takes the likely $$$$$ loss. Only the black hats and loony separatists are going to agree with this squandering of the province’s rapidly diminishing treasury. But, who ever said Ditzy and the gang were good at finance? I smell a snap election.
So Smith got booed by UCP separatists at their AGM. She may be able to switch sides in an instant, but the separatists are much slower thinkers and I wonder if she can shed that flock of albatrosses weighing her down.
If this proposed pipeline is supposed to be built at great expense by the private sector, why are no buyers coming forward to purchase the existing trans-mountain pipeline ? What am I missing here ? Surely a functioning pipeline that is generating revenue is a better investment than a hypothetical one, and, knowing our federal government, it could probably be bought for a knock-down price many billions below the actual cost of construction…….
Can Smith use the heritage fund to fund this pipeline? Has Alberta blown the heritage fund? If not, where’s the money?
Jim: Mostly frittered away. That’s what they want to use your CPP pension for. DJC
We need to talk about the the very loudly farting elephant in the room.
The USA military is the #1 customer of fossil fuels in the world. It is also the #1 cause of pollution in the world.
So why…oh why…would we want to contribute any more to this unstoppable war machine that’s killing the planet and oh, yeah–*threatening us personally*?
Practically every country on the planet has oil. It’s everywhere. Smith and Co. need to stop acting like they’re hanging onto some precious commodity that isn’t readily available elsewhere for cheaper.
Now potash…THAT is valuable.
The most valuable commodities on the planet for the maintenance of life are air, water and food. All of which are threatened by a military that’s guzzling oil and minerals in the business of murdering people and with no care for wildlife or habitation. Human, plant and animal life are all under siege from the pure greed of the oil industry that is, in effect–the corporate military-industrial complex.
Smith refuses to see it, Carney appears to be ignoring it and PP is completely ignorant of it.
Canada. Lions led by donkeys.
B— and “ironically” Premier Moe is busy doing his part in the Canada First aisle, by having Napien ship that potash to the world through a terminal in Washington state, rather than through BC ports. Premier Eby called him out on it when he was told that Moe* was discussing the pipeline withDS but he wasn’t in on the discussions. (* who said later that he would not sign the MOU..??)