Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith say their governments will begin studies for a proposed Northern Shield Energy Corridor that would transport crude oil along a 3,300-kilometre route stretching from Hardisty, Alta., to Sarnia, Ont.

“The Alberta oil sands have gone from a target to a national treasure,” said Smith during the announcement Monday.

The proposal comes on the heels of a separate one announced last Thursday, when Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a route to B.C.’s southern coast that would follow the existing Trans Mountain corridor.

That pitch is a priority for Alberta, Smith said, adding it is at a relatively more advanced stage than the proposal with Ontario.

“We have a project design, we’ve got a private proponent, we’ve got the federal government willing to partner with us,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Northern Shield Energy Corridor is in a more exploratory phase, with a feasibility study underway, led by an advisory team of GHD, EY Canada, Mokwateh, AtkinsRéalis, Wood PLC and Turner & Townsen.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says that if a study finds the project viable, governments won’t “hesitate” to invest should the private sector balk.

Aya Dufour has the details.

Also, the federal government has picked German-Norwegian consortium TKMS as Canada’s preferred supplier to patrol submarines.

Carney confirmed the news at a Canadian Armed Forces base in Halifax today, stopping on his way to the annual NATO summit in Turkey.

The prime minister says it was a close race and a difficult decision to make between TKMS and its rival bidder Hanwha, a South Korean defence conglomerate.

Hanwha signed more than 80 industrial and government partnerships, most of which took the form of memorandums of understanding — handshake agreements to collaborate.

The Hanwha agreements that have received the most attention are proposed partnerships to offer a lifeline to tariff-hit industries — Algoma Steel in northern Ontario and auto-parts makers in southern Ontario.

TKMS, meanwhile, signed more than 18 partnerships with Canadian companies — far fewer than Hanwha.

TKMS has said it is focused on the quality of the partnerships — and even pointed out it refused many such offers that would not be good fits. It also said several key partnerships that formed part of its confidential bid have not yet been made public.

Sydney Ko and the Canadian Press have that write up.

In Other Headlines

Internationally

Hamas has announced its intention to hand over governing authority in Gaza after two decades in power, and has invited a US-backed interim administration to take over the running of the Palestinian territory.

It was not immediately clear how far Monday’s announcement would go towards strengthening an only partially observed ceasefire in Gaza or improving conditions in the besieged coastal strip which is still in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.

While announcing that it was ready to hand over security as part of a transition, the Hamas statement made no promise to disarm unilaterally as Israel and the US have demanded.

The interim administration to which Hamas has offered to transfer governance, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), has been blocked from entering Gaza by Israel since its creation in January as part of a US-brokered ceasefire, adding further doubt to the timing of any future handover.

The Guardian has more. 

The Trump administration’s sweeping effort to slow down the rate of legal migration has affected a group traditionally immune from such efforts: spouses of U.S. citizens.

The administration has implemented a slew of policy changes since President Trump returned to the White House last year, ranging from pausing immigrant visas for people from 75 countries to imposing greater scrutiny of applicants at green-card interviews and widening the scope of who is a target for deportation. The changes have hit all immigrants hard, including those who sought to enter and stay in the country through marriage.

Some non-U.S.-citizen spouses have been separated from their American loved ones and are afraid to engage with the U.S. immigration system, according to lawyers and NPR interviews with affected families.

“Life has become a lot more difficult for Americans who are married to somebody who is not born in this country,” said Ashley DeAzevedo, executive director of American Families United. The organization advocates for U.S. citizen spouses and immediate family members of those engaged in various immigration processes.

Read more from NPR. 

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

Asked about where things stand with Smith after he’d criticized her for putting Alberta independence on a ballot to please her base, Ford went warm: he “thinks the world of” her, and the last federal government treated Alberta “like garbage.” Then, naturally, the two swapped belt buckles (hence this issue’s cover shot).
Ford, handing over his: “I’ve got a new Ford Nation belt, but I’m giving you the new coordination buckle.” Smith: “Oh, amazing. Thank you.”
Her turn to explain: she’d heard Ford was searching everywhere for his Alberta buckle, so she got him a replacement — “I don’t want his pants to fall down, so now he’s got a belt buckle to hold him up.”