Carney pitches Alberta pipeline pact as proof Canada still works

OTTAWA — Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney struck a pipeline agreement with oil-rich Alberta on Friday, presenting it as proof of a “Canada that works” amid a separatist strain in the province.

Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met in Calgary to sign a deal that could eventually move more than 1 million barrels of Canadian oil a day to the Pacific, creating a direct export route to major energy markets in Japan, South Korea, China and India.

The agreement marks a major shift in the Liberal government’s energy policies. Under Carney, Ottawa is now embracing Alberta’s decade-long push to expand oil production and export capacity. It’s an effort made possible by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war, which exposed vulnerabilities in Canada’s economic dependence on the U.S.

And as the Alberta separatist movements flares up, Carney is attempting to show he is listening to the concerns of the province, which has long accused Ottawa of restricting resource development. “Today, is also about building trust in a Canada that works, a Canada rooted in cooperative federalism, where we build together pragmatically and ambitiously to achieve our shared ambitions,” Carney said Friday. “A Canada where our differences are strengths to be nurtured and respected, not risks to be managed.”

Smith has also been working to tamp down the separatist movement, which is calling for a referendum on separating from Canada. The premier has blamed “10 years of bad Liberal policy” under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for fueling western alienation, pointing to climate rules and energy regulations she says hurt Alberta’s economy.

“I support sovereignty within a united Canada,” Smith told reporters Friday after signing the pipeline pact.

“That means Alberta should stay a part of Canada and continue to pursue and support and enshrine our constitutionally invested rights, and also make sure that the federal government respects them,” she added. “That’s what today is about.”

Since coming into office over a year ago, Carney has had to manage caucus divisions over oil, while convincing investors Canada is serious about building energy projects. In November, a member of Carney’s Cabinet resigned over his pipeline push.

A month later, Carney delivered a wake-up call to his Liberal caucus, telling them a pipeline could help keep the country together. “This was a no-BS kind of thing,” a Liberal MP who was granted anonymity to discuss the December caucus meeting told POLITICO at the time. “This was coming from someone who grew up in that province, who understands that province, and who was very worried about the feelings of alienation.”

This week, the prime minister dismissed the idea that a pipeline is necessary to preserve national unity.

But Carney also views the pipeline as an economic win. Trade diversification has become a central pillar of his economic agenda. And he considers access to overseas markets critical to Canada’s sovereignty.

Alberta’s United Conservative Party, which is acting as the proponent of the project for now, says it plans to submit its application for the pipeline to the federal government by July 1. The federal government is promising to approve it by October following consultations with Indigenous peoples and the province of British Columbia. Construction could begin as early as September 2027, with oil flowing to a port in British Columbia no later than 2033-34.

The expectation is a private sector company will eventually take over the project, which the Alberta government has hinted could come by the time it submits its application this summer.

The oil-rich province has also signaled there is significant interest in the project from investors in Asia, where demand for Canadian oil has been rising amid instability caused by the war in the Middle East.

The deal is contingent on a new emissions framework for Alberta’s oil and gas sector, including the oil sands, and advancing a carbon capture storage hub to help reach net-zero by 2050.