Carney advances new Canada oil pipeline, raising climate concerns

TORONTO

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney signed an agreement with the western energy-producing province of Alberta to advance a new oil pipeline, sparking immediate concerns about Ottawa's commitment to battling climate change.

The memorandum of understanding charts a plan for a pipeline going from Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast to boost oil exports to Asia — in line with Carney's goal of expanding overseas trade to offset damage from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war.

"At the core of the agreement, of course, is a priority to have a pipeline to Asia," Carney said ahead of the signing alongside Alberta's conservative Premier Danielle Smith.

Aside from broadening exports, the plan endorses an overall increase in Alberta oil and gas production.

The deal marked a clear pivot for Carney's Liberal Party and a departure from the policies that defined former prime minister Justin Trudeau's decade in power.

Carney's culture minister, Stephen Guilbeault — who was Trudeau's environment minister — resigned from the cabinet in protest over the pipeline deal hours after it was signed.

He said he "strongly" opposed the Alberta MoU, charging it would "move Canada further away from its greenhouse gas emission targets."

Guilbeault was the architect of several Trudeau-era climate policies, measures he said were being "dismantled."

Under the plan, Ottawa also agreed to set aside an emissions cap, which has not yet come into effect.

But the prime minister insisted the project will also make Canada's oil sector more sustainable.

"The way we're going to do that is in combination with the Pathways Project, which will be the largest carbon capture project in the world," Carney said.