Premier Smith says MOU progress on pipeline, carbon pricing
premier smith said Friday she and Prime Minister Mark Carney made significant progress toward a memorandum of understanding on a West Coast pipeline and carbon pricing after meeting in Ottawa. She said she is now more confident the deal can be landed before Alberta sends its proposal to the major projects office for a new pipeline to the west coast of B.C.
Ottawa Meeting
Carney opened the meeting by saying, “We’re working to make Canada work better for Albertans and for all Canadians‚” as the two leaders met Friday morning in Ottawa. Smith later told a conservative conference in the city, “I’m feeling much more confident that we’re going to be able to finally land the MOU and to do so before we submit our proposal to the major projects office for a new pipeline to the west coast of B.C.”
Alberta and Ottawa signed a memorandum of understanding last year, and by April 1 they had only settled two of the four provisions expected under it. The parts already agreed to cover streamlining environmental impact assessments and a pledge by Alberta to cut methane emissions by 75 per cent from 2014 levels by 2035.
Carbon Pricing Talks
The unresolved pieces are carbon pricing and a CO2-capture project in the oil sands. Smith said during the conference that the federal government’s ability to set a floor price on carbon follows the Supreme Court’s ruling, and that Alberta must work within that framework while trying to keep companies and ratepayers able to afford it.
The dispute has centered on how quickly Alberta would have to raise its carbon price to $130 a tonne. Smith said the previous Trudeau government was looking for $170 a tonne by 2030, a higher target than the one now at issue in the talks.
Alberta Proposal Deadline
The immediate question for the province is whether the MOU can be finished before Alberta submits its pipeline proposal to the major projects office. Smith’s comments suggest the talks have moved past broad agreement and into the remaining terms that will decide whether the pipeline file and the carbon price issue move together or stay separate.
