Varcoe: Carney says it's 'highly likely' an oil pipeline will make Ottawa's major project list
At a first ministers' meeting last month, the premiers called for the country to work urgently to get its natural resources to market, including 'decarbonized Canadian oil and gas by pipelines.' Smith has pitched the idea of a 'grand bargain' that would see approval of Pathways' foundational project with a pipeline to the B.C. coast.
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'It is much more attractive if we're shipping decarbonized barrels, effectively, so that there's some . . . coming together of Pathways and new oil exports,' Carney said.
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'I don't want to be overly strict about what this can look like. It's not for me to set out a series of preconditions because this really is a process of collaboration, working together. But without question, Pathways happening — Pathways happening at scale — is very attractive for a variety of reasons.'
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'Yeah, that does rise towards the level of nation-building, because we're building a new industry and it unlocks other things,' he added.
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Officials with Pathways Alliance declined to comment on Saturday.
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Alberta's premier also showed up at Saturday's pancake breakfast, outside a United Brotherhood of Carpenters' hall, and briefly bumped into the prime minister.
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In a later interview, Smith welcomed Carney's comments that an oil pipeline will likely make the federal list, and his remarks on the merits of the carbon capture initiative in the oilsands.
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'That's what I've been hoping to see,' Smith said.
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'I can see why our customers want a lower carbon product. It seems to me like those two projects together make perfect sense, and I'm hoping we can come to a deal on that.'
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However, Smith believes several hurdles still need to be removed by the federal Liberal government before any new pipeline can gain the necessary investor and producer confidence.
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This would include changing the federal emissions cap on the oil and gas industry, the Impact Assessment Act, and the tanker ban off the northern B.C. coast.
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Carney said the federal government wants to see more oil and gas produced, and decarbonized, in Canada. He suggested there would be ways to build projects and deal with the tanker ban.
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