Cathie from Canada: The Carney and Smith announcement, plus a note on Trump’s crazy language

It was a big announcement today in Alberta:

Canada and Alberta Strike Landmark Implementation Agreement on Energy, Emissions, and Export Diversification

By Annie Koshy

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a landmark Implementation Agreement in Calgary today, delivering on the core commitments of the Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding signed last November. The agreement moves on three fronts simultaneously: strengthening carbon markets, building clean electricity infrastructure, and opening a new pipeline corridor to Asian markets.

The carbon market framework carries the broadest national implications. Canada and Alberta have agreed to an effective carbon price of $115 per tonne by 2030, $130 by 2035, and $140 by 2040. Alberta commits to a minimum floor price for carbon credits beginning in 2030, preventing market collapse and providing investment certainty. Canada and Alberta will jointly issue 75 million tonnes of Carbon Contracts for Difference to support emissions reduction projects, with costs shared equally. The ambition extends beyond Alberta: a credible, high-price carbon market in Canada’s largest emitting province creates the foundation for a scalable national carbon credit market across provinces.

On electricity, both governments have committed to doubling Alberta’s grid by 2050 across nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal, and lower-carbon generation. A joint Electricity Working Group will identify the investments required to achieve net-zero emissions in Alberta’s electricity sector by 2050. The federal government will add major high-voltage intra-provincial transmission to the Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit, directly addressing one of the most persistent bottlenecks in Alberta’s renewable buildout.

The pipeline commitment is the most politically consequential element. Alberta will submit a comprehensive proposal for a bitumen pipeline to Asian markets to the Major Projects Office by July 1. Canada will pursue its designation as a project of national interest by October 1, fully consistent with the duty to consult Indigenous peoples. The pipeline would transport at least one million barrels of low-emission Alberta bitumen per day and is contingent on the Pathways Project, the world’s largest carbon capture and storage initiative, targeting 16 million tonnes of annual emissions reductions and up to 43,000 jobs annually.

Both governments have concluded that the cost of continued regulatory conflict is higher than the cost of compromise. Alberta gets pipeline access, investment certainty, and jurisdictional control. Canada gets a credible carbon market foundation and a nation-building project that advances its export diversification agenda. Whether the pipeline can be approved by October 1 while fully meeting Indigenous consultation requirements will be the first real test of the timelines committed to today.

https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2026/05/15/canada-and-alberta-strike-agreement-diversify-our-exports-reduce

– Annie Koshy

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Here is an excerpt from PM Carney’s press conference following the announcement:
shorts

Are we going to call this a Three Bears approach?

Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed defends Ottawa-Alberta MOU: “If you listen to what Avi Lewis said, and you listen to Pierre Poilievre, one is saying we’ve gone too far, one is saying we’re not doing enough. This is, I believe, the just right approach, dealing with where we are in this moment.”

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— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson.bsky.social) May 15, 2026 at 3:59 PM

I thought this was an interesting point:

Steve Paikin: “Asymmetrical federalism means not every single province is treated exactly the same way. That’s just the way we’ve governed this country ever since 1867 … This is one of the most difficult, decentralized countries to govern in the entire world because of the separation of powers.”

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— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson.bsky.social) May 15, 2026 at 9:20 AM

And I guess Poilievre’s caucus can’t figure out how to criticize what Carney is doing:

Fred DeLorey on the Alberta pipeline announcement: “It’s very, very hard to be a Conservative messaging on this right now. It’s like ‘Mark Carney, the day he’s elected, should have grabbed a shovel and started digging that pipeline. Why didn’t he get it done then?'”

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— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson.bsky.social) May 15, 2026 at 5:14 PM

They don’t seem to be speaking up to oppose Alberta separatism either

Greg MacEachern highlights the noticeable absence of a federalist voice from the federal Conservatives on Alberta separatism

– Scott Robertson

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British Columbia’s response:

BC Premier David Eby is very unimpressed with Smith’s “tantrum gets you projects” strategy to nation building…

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

– TheBreakdownAB

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I thought this was pretty good, too:

Alberta separatists trying to explain to the rest of the country, how their divorce, their truck payments and the fact they can’t get laid are somehow all Justin Trudeau’s fault 😂😅

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— 🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 (@teamcanadaforever.bsky.social) May 15, 2026 at 8:46 PM

This sorta explains the crazy stuff Trump says:

And this:

Every single day Trump, half awake and barely coherent, says something like “The moon is very bad actually, some very good friends of mine say Mr. President they say, maybe we should take it out. Get rid of it, we don’t need it. Put something else up there, something that will help our country, I’m considering it. Many things we could do, maybe a nuke, I don’t know. It’s been very bad for our country. Bobby says moon is why we have Hantavirus and I believe it.”

And then the mainstream media is just: “It is uncertain whether the president can unilaterally destroy the moon. Legal scholars suggest destroying the moon would require an act of congress. Here’s how the night sky will look different without the moon.”

– S Peter Davis

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