What's The Deal in Canada?

Peter Zeihan 5 min

Prime Minister Carney and Alberta Premier Smith reached a compromise on energy and carbon pricing after years of conflict. I'm hopeful they've got a lot of work ahead of them.

Chapters

  1. 0:00

    The Breakthrough Agreement

    Prime Minister Carney and Alberta Premier Smith reached a compromise on energy and carbon pricing after years of conflict. The federal government agreed to push a bitumen pipeline across British Columbia in exchange for Alberta accepting carbon pricing. Alberta avoided carbon pricing because it is an oil economy, while Ottawa preferred green policies despite Alberta funding the federal budget.

  2. 2:12

    The Political Middle Returns

    Prime Minister Carney campaigned on returning to the political middle, ending a decade where the center was vacant. Canada's First Nations hold veto power, British Columbia opposes the pipeline, and the carbon pricing number remains unset.

  3. 3:57

    The Carbon Capture Program

    A carbon capture program is included in the deal, though its cost and market benefits remain unknown until pricing is set.

  4. 4:34

    Hope for Future Cooperation

    The speaker expresses hope that Carney and Smith will complete their work ahead after seeing such broad agreement.

Key points

  • 0:00

    It was a civil conversation that ended in a compromise.

  • 0:00

    The Canadian government at the federal level has agreed to now push a bitumen pipeline.

  • 0:00

    Alberta has always vociferously avoided any sort of carbon pricing or emissions trading.

  • 2:12

    Kearney campaigned on returning to the political middle.

  • 2:12

    At the moment, Canada's First Nations are not part of this deal.

  • 3:57

    And until we know what the number is, one of the other components of this deal, which is a carbon capture program, we don't know how that's going to work.

  • 2:12

    British Columbia, which is the province that this pipeline has to go through, is not part of this deal.

  • 4:34

    I'm hopeful they've got a lot of work ahead of them.

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