Smith says Albertans and industry are getting 'impatient' over pipeline pact with Carney

OTTAWA — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says industry and Albertans are growing “impatient” to finalize the months-old energy deal she struck with Prime Minister Mark Carney, saying she hopes it can happen within “days.”

Smith made her comments before pooled media who covered the start of a meeting on Friday between the two leaders in Carney’s office.

The premier said the pair have had “constructive conversations” since the signing of that document last November.

“Still have a few things to work out and I hope that we can get to the finish line on signing that (memorandum of understanding.) I know industry is getting a bit impatient, Albertans’ are getting a little bit impatient,” Smith said.

“And if we’re going to move forward with that MOU I hope it happens in the next number of days because I think in Alberta there does need to be a demonstration that Canada can work.”

The pair are sitting down more than a month after a deadline passed to reach a deal on industrial carbon pricing as part of deal signed last November.

As part of that pact, which commits the Carney Liberals not to implement an emissions cap on oil and gas and exempt Alberta from having to adhere to a set of federal clean energy regulations, Smith agreed to increase her province’s industrial carbon price “ to a minimum effective credit price of $130/tonne,” from its current price $95 per tonne.

The timeline for reaching that level and deciding on a more long-term structure for the program, which have been carried out by senior officials within both governments, have emerged as a sticking points within the negotiations.

It also comes as leaders within the oil and gas sector have underscored how the policy of charging an industrial carbon price onto industry undermines the country’s competitiveness as a time when Canada seeks to diversify its market access.

That includes from a group of five major oilsands companies that have spent years pushing for more oil production by way of constructing a massive multi-billion-dollar carbon capture and storage project to trap carbon emissions, a proposal which the deal between Alberta and Ottawa links to the construction of a new pipeline.

A new million-barrel-a-day pipeline carrying crude oil from Alberta to British Columbia’s northwest coast is what Smith wants out of the deal with Carney and has committed that her United Conservative Party government would submit a proposal to the federal Major Projects Office for consideration.

It comes a separatist movement swells within Alberta, with members from the campaign pushing for a referendum recently submitting signatures from Elections Alberta to trigger the question.

“We have more to do, which is why we’re sitting down today,” Carney said of the Alberta-Ottawa relationship as he met the premier on Friday.

Smith is in Ottawa to later appear as a keynote speaker at the annual Canada Strong and Free Network conference.

National Post

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