Prime minister announces plan to make Canada major source of ‘affordable, clean, reliable’ energy

Canada’s prime minister and Alberta’s premier signed a landmark oil pipeline deal on Friday while avoiding the thorny question of the province’s independence movement.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith put pen to paper in the city of Calgary after marathon negotiations dating back to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s era.

The carbon capture initiative will see carbon produced by the Alberta oil sands companies charged at CAN$130 (US$95) per ton (US1.1 ton) by 2040, up from $95 a ton. It will reach $100 a ton by 22027.

In return for the increase, the federal government will approve a new privately funded oil pipeline to the western British Columbia coast on the Pacific Ocean. There it will be shipped to Asian markets. It will carry about 1 million barrels of bitumen a day.

Carney said Asian counties are hungry for Canadian oil because Canada has their trust as a reliable source

In return, Alberta will run a pipeline to Cold Lake, Alta. to carry the carbon from 20 oil sands facilities for permanent storage deep in the earth.

At the signing ceremony, Smith said the deal was a “major step forward” for Alberta and Ottawa.

Smith was happy for with the agreement, but it will no doubt make some in her United Conservative Party (UCP) unhappy.

A significant number of members want Alberta to separate from Canada and recently 300,000 Albertans signed a petition to that affect.

Carney said the agreement with the Alberta government was about “building trust in a Canada that works” for all Canadians, including those in Alberta.