48 Comments
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Debbie Molle's avatar

Thank GOD Guilbeault has resigned. If nothing else good actually comes of this, he is gone.

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Pat's avatar
2dEdited

I will believe it when I see it, My hunch is the BC will challenge everything about this MOU in court at the earliest time they can and the clock will run down while courts dither. Eventually the progressive Judges appointed by Trudeau will do what the government cant in good conscience do, block such developments. In fact, I think that is what Carney is hoping for!

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Gerald Pelchat's avatar

Agree. This is all performative theater at this point. Trudeau, his ideological wet dreams, and his supporting sycophants are all done, as Carney metaphorically stuck a fork in all of them. Cue a spring election. But the fine print details years of strife ahead and huge carbon capture costs for Ab proving that at heart, Carney is still a climate zealot, intent on ragging the puck ( no pun) well into the future. One thing these Libs have been great at is making the announcement sound like the completed project.

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Clarke's avatar

If it was all performative theater, why did Guilbeault resign from cabinet? Carney may or may not get a pipeline, but I have difficulty interpreting an act of sacrifice of that personal magnitude as anything other than a sincere belief on Guilbeault's part that Carney genuinely wants a pipeline.

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Gerald Pelchat's avatar

Not much of a sacrifice; the writing was on the wall for that dude...

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Applied Epistemologist's avatar

Absolutely. Until pipe is in the ground, this is just another Liberal promise. Elbows Up!

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S.McRobbie's avatar

But, but...elbows up!?

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Gaz's avatar

The game is just beginning. The LPC Quebec caucus answers to their constituents, and Quebecers overwhelmingly oppose O&G. Expect a revolt, similar to Lucien Bouchard's departure. That will put the ball in the CPC's court. Will they have the brains to support the rump of LPC on this?

Ms. Smith will call a spring election and the UPC will crush the NDP (good job, Eby). The Americans, seeing Alberta's reliance on the existing pipelines potentially diminishing, and enabling its competitors with a reliable energy source, will move Keystone X back onto the table.

Is the die cast?

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Pat's avatar

If this is what it takes to get Keystone back on track, I'm okay with that! I believe it is the ONLY pipeline we have a slim hope of every getting to fruition.

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Michael's avatar

Remember that one of the major potential new customers of a pipeline to tidewater is... California.

It's not THAT bad news for the Americans.

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Eric Yendall's avatar

It will be very interesting to see if climate crisis Carney can really change his spots. Read his book and look at his UN etc record on the subject. I don't however think he is hoping it all will be killed by the Supreme Court. He knows this is vital to Canada's future and that the majority of Canadians support a pipeline. But until he dumps net zero and other climate-activist's wet dreams he has not gone far enough for me. If Poilievre had been elected we would be much further ahead on this file at this point. Al least, Guilbeault's resignation is a positive start.

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John's avatar

I hope this will take the steam 😆 out of the recall movement looming on the Alberta horizon.

Guilbeault’s leaving is another benefit. But he’s only a symptom of the abomination that has a member of 10 percent of the population (4 million old stock French Quebeckers vs 40 million total Canadians) dictating to the other 90 percent how to live their lives. I’m old enough to remember when Canada wrote laws that had clauses that said “except in Quebec where…”.

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Gaz's avatar

Ideally we would have a majority federal government, exclusive of Quebec. Isolated, they would go the way of the Acadians. Figuratively.

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John's avatar

I’m with you 100% on that one bro.

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sji's avatar

Carney backs Eby into a corner, with little risk to himself. So far we have Smith, Moe, Ford, Houston, Carney publicly saying it's a good idea. I haven't heard one other Premier say otherwise; the rest stay silent... for now. I bet they just wait to confirm the direction of the wind.

Current polling shows 63% of Canadians in support, so we're all going to see "Team Canada" on one side and the Eby-Ego on the other. Deeeeeelishus!!

Isolating him shines a spotlight on that ego, and also one of his blind spots: Eby can't cooperate or collaborate with anyone; there are only Eby's ideas, hatched sipping champagne in Point Grey, and which are never wrong. He'll wear pariah for longer than a healthy, mature human because of his unjustified confidence.

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sji's avatar

replying to myself, lol.

I should have added that Eby was given every chance to join Team Canada. Hard to think of another event that was signalled for as long, as frequently. He had all the time in the world to work on (ANOTHER) 180' pivot.

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Ryan H's avatar

I suspect Eby may waver if it damages other projects going on in the province. Nutrien had good logistic reasons to go through Washington instead of B.C., but I can imagine they also wondered "If the province is throwing this much rhetoric and promising to use the entire power of the state to stop an oil pipeline, what guarantee do we have to get this built if we become politically inconvenient?" Do that 20 times, and the loss of capital projects start to add up.

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lrhepworth@gmail.com's avatar

You're forgetting the Aboriginal Nations are totally against tankers going down Hecate Straight and talk to MP May about that.

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Gaz's avatar

https://www.thefp.com/p/no-you-are-not-on-indigenous-land

It all starts when a child calls out "the emperor is wearing nothing at all".

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Eric Yendall's avatar

And, your point? The aboriginal tribes have marginalised themselves assisted by so many useful idiots. Perhaps it is time to get realistic with them. They lost the culture war by not recognising that they could not compete with Western European culture but needed to assimilate if they wished to enjoy the benefits of that culture. They have no veto over Canada.

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sji's avatar

hmmm...

I've done business along the FSJ - Rupert corridor and, in my experience, there are many, many, many FN who would love to clip some coupons from a pipeline. Eby relies on a FEW that are aligned with him, that's all. The few may be already clipping coupons from LNG>

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Jim Hornett's avatar

This is a big step forward for Alberta and for Canada. It is so nice to see Steven Guilbeault ,the environmental extremist who was arrested twice for his antics, out of cabinet. Maybe we now need Albertans who believe in this province to step up and indicate a willingness to pay for this pipeline, sort of a mega Go Fund Me project.

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Bob Reynolds's avatar

Good riddance Guilbeault. May there soon be more Trudeau acolytes leaving the building. That said, I won’t be holding my breath waiting for any new infrastructure to be approved, much less built. There just aren’t enough Canadians yet who want investment and development moving ahead again in this country, so successful has been the anti-capital, anti-business climate change indoctrination of the population by the Trudeau Liberals.

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Rob MacDonald's avatar

Not a real leader or politician ... ever, just a performer/clown. Thank god he's out.

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David Peters's avatar

Premier Smith’s clear articulation of the Alberta/Federal political divide and the 9 bad laws has been masterful. But it takes two to Tango and Carney has definitely moved away from Trudeau era policies with this MOU. I give him credit for that, as well as doing it before the Premier had to go to the UCP AGM, an important political moment for her. He didn’t have to do that. It gives me hope that we can continue to see progress on a pipeline and on other irritants between the governments, including items discussed at the Alberta Next panels. What I’m really hoping for is a United Canada there we work well together.

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Doug's avatar

The US government is overwhelming the bond market. Given that all debt prices off the perceived risk free nature of US government debt, global borrowing costs will rise. Canadian governments carry such enormous debt loads that even small increases to interest rates will call into question their ability to pay. The most obvious way to quell the bond vigilantes will be to unblock resource development as the resulting tax revenue could backstop bond payments. Governments have no choice just like they had no choice with the 1995 austerity budget.

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sji's avatar

uhhh... "the risk free nature of US fovea debt"

That bias is fading and the markets have reacted more than once, forcing Trump to back off already. In addition, it's important to note the US debt is actually more problematic, and they're laser focused on debt servicing costs for that very reason.

The pressure exists in the US more, despite any attempt by that orange McDonalds garbage can to pretend otherwise. One can remember that he "transformed" an enormous, successful R.E. company his daddy gave him into a debt-ridden, much smaller R.E. company. This happened because he used debt to destructive levels to feed his ego, until only ONE BANK in the world would lend money.

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John's avatar

Yep given the amount of borrowing relative to GDP in the latest Ottawa budget - and Ontario’s me-too profligacy - maintaining Canada’s creditworthiness is definitely a challenge. Argentina, Spain, Greece and Mexico under World Bank rules come to mind.

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sji's avatar

John, you need to look at the ratios in the US compared to your list lol.

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Doug's avatar

USD is still the world's reserve currency, meaning that the Fed will always have a market providing currency to the rest of the world. That will only change if a suitable alternate existed, which it doesn't. That means the US can in effect export much of the downside to its profligate borrowing. Canada cannot.

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John's avatar

Oh I agree I don’t think the US is a shining example either. But as the saying goes they are “too big to fail”. Or to paraphrase another author (Bret Harte?) “the game may be crooked but it’s the only game in town”.

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Michael Butler's avatar

"needing a commercial partner"

That is the most important part of the MOU. Have we heard from Enbridge, Pembina etc?

Who is the commercial partner, and how much are they willing to spend out of their own pockets?

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sji's avatar

Smith has made a lot of noise about the pipeline, but of course it needs a proponent. What I like about Carney's move here is that there either is one or there isn't.

If there isn't a proponent, Smith looks like she's been wailing about nothing.

If there is, Eby looks wrong AGAIN, is even more isolated, and the ROC opinion about nut job BC politics becomes more leverage.

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Eric Yendall's avatar

Perhaps China?

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Clay Eddy Arbuckle's avatar

Yes,Guilbeaut has vested his Government Pension plan. Good riddance. I don’t see a pipeline going to the West coast any time soon. Oh well,maybe another one South?

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CoolPro's avatar

Cave imprimis a Liberalibus qui Memorandum Intellegentiae ferunt.

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Ray's avatar

Good news for Alberta and Canada and throw in Guillbeault resigningas a cherry on top. It’s too bad Smith’s party booed her MOU and her stating that she’s a federalist. She shouldn’t have played footsies with the seppies earlier on. Riding that dragon is not easy to survive, as Jason Kenney found out.

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Michael Edwards's avatar

Good news is like a good recipe. The proof will be in the results.

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CF's avatar

Any chance that a new pipeline court be routed across BC but outside of any Indian reserves to potentially get this onerous other hindrance.

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Davey J's avatar

most of bc is land without treaty so there are claims on all of it, cant get around them.

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sji's avatar

ummm, yes the courts can, and have done.

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sji's avatar

oh yes you can, lol

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