CP NewsAlert: Carney, Smith sign pipeline deal, open door to changing B.C. tanker ban

By Canadian Press on November 27, 2025.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have signed a memorandum of understanding that commits them to working toward building an oil pipeline to the West Coast.

At a signing ceremony in Calgary today, the two agreed to terms that commit Ottawa to adjusting the West Coast tanker ban if a pipeline project is approved as a project of national interest under the Building Canada Act and provides “opportunities for Indigenous co-ownership and shared economic benefits.”

It also says Alberta will implement an industrial carbon price of $130 per tonne by April 1 — bringing it above the federal benchmark — and that Ottawa will immediately suspend the clean electricity regulations in the province pending a new carbon price agreement.

The agreement pairs the pipeline project to the proposed Pathways Alliance carbon capture project and government officials say the two projects must be built in tandem.

The announcement comes after a group of First Nations in B.C. said that a pipeline to the Pacific coast will never be built, and after B.C. Premier David Eby said lifting the tanker ban would threaten projects already in development in the region and consensus among coastal First Nations.

The MOU signed today says Ottawa and Alberta will engage with B.C. on the pipeline development and work with the province to advance its economic interests through other projects of national interest.

More coming.

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press