HANNAFORD: Ottawa blinks as Smith forces historic energy retreat

History of a sort was made in Calgary today — and not the kind anyone saw coming. Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney stood side by side and signed a memorandum of understanding that tears up the federal clean-electricity regulations for Alberta, kills the oil-and-gas emissions cap once and for all, and commits both governments to a new west-coast export corridor, co-owned with indigenous partners, dedicated to shipping what used to be called “ethical oil.”Or, as Mr. Carney now calls it — “decarbonized oil.”.Tonight’s guest on Hannaford is Western Standard energy reporter David Wiechnik, who covered the joint press conference this morning. He explains what happened — and says that, bizarre though it may seem, the same Alberta energy industry Ottawa once treated like a national embarrassment is now being positioned as the world’s greenest petrostate. The Government of Alberta is officially backing the largest carbon-capture-and-storage megaproject ever proposed anywhere on Earth — a $16.5-billion network designed to siphon CO₂ from refineries and upgraders and inject it two kilometres underground so the world can buy “net-zero” barrels..And that means the Government of Canada is on side, promising support for pipelines and giving up emissions caps and clean-electricity goals, and much else besides.The engineering is astonishing. The politics may be even more so. But the real question tonight: will any of it ever actually happen?And we talk about the question of the moment: could Premier Smith do anything but what she did?.After all, this isn’t a perfect deal because there’s a catch. A big one.Global oil demand is rising, yes, and there are markets to be had. But clean oil is expensive oil, and almost nobody outside the Ottawa–Toronto corridor ever asked for this. Asian markets want Alberta’s heavy crude, all right, but buyers from Seoul to Mumbai keep saying the same thing: “Send us the oil. Keep the green guilt.”In a world where low-cost Venezuela may soon be back in business, and petro-states are flexing again, Alberta is voluntarily bolting a sixteen-and-a-half-billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded guilt-abatement machine to its single greatest competitive advantage..Those aren’t fringe complaints. They’re legitimate concerns. And they raise the uncomfortable possibility that we are building the most expensive conscience-salving device in human history, aimed squarely at a market that doesn’t exist.And yet — here comes the hard political truth — Danielle Smith had almost no better move. Walking away from the table today would have left all nine of Trudeau’s anti-energy laws intact, kept the emissions cap hanging over Alberta’s head, and guaranteed years of federal vetoes, delays, and regulatory warfare. Instead, she walked out with seven of those nine poison pills neutralized, a signed federal commitment to future export infrastructure, and the prime minister himself flying to Calgary to bless it.In the cruel mathematics of Canadian federalism, that’s not just a win — that’s a landslide.Meanwhile, the Liberal cabinet continues its astonishing stampede for the exits. Steven Guilbeault — patron saint of bike lanes, bridge blockades, and tiresome moralising about everything green — resigned earlier today. He now joins Chrystia Freeland and Mélanie Joly in what looks increasingly like the world’s most enthusiastic alumni association. Mark Carney isn’t just forming a new government — he’s fumigating an old one.So tonight we ask: was today’s handshake the start of a new era of Western influence — or just another glossy federal press release with no pipeline at the end?Energy reporter David Wiechnik was in the room. He heard every promise, every careful ambiguity, and every word Carney did not say.Let’s get into it. Hannaford airs at 7:00 p.m.

HANNAFORD: Ottawa blinks as Smith forces historic energy retreat

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