OTTAWA — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she is seeking a deal with Prime Minister Mark Carney by mid-November that would roll back federal policies she argues have driven away investment in Canada’s energy sector.
Smith met separately this week with Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during a trip to Ottawa and Montreal. She said the discussions focused on restoring investor confidence and getting new resource projects built.
“I can tell you we are hoping to be in a position to have some kind of agreement with the Prime Minister by Grey Cup (Nov. 16, 2025) where he gives a clear indication that he’s prepared to address the nine laws that have been creating an investment climate that is hostile to private investment,” Smith told reporters.
The premier said she wants to see federal restrictions such as the west coast tanker ban and oil sands emissions cap lifted to help energy companies expand production and move projects forward. Among her priorities is support for the Pathways Alliance carbon capture project, which aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, along with a new bitumen pipeline to the west coast.
“We’ll know in a few more weeks,” she said. “But the message I’ve had to the Prime Minister is it’s the oil sands companies who need to have the confidence that they’re going to be allowed to expand production in order to fill the pipeline. At the moment they don’t have that confidence.”
Smith said she delivered the same message to both Carney and Poilievre. “The conversation with Poilievre and the PM was the same,” she said. “It is what can we do to be able to build resource projects, resource pipelines, to get our confidence back in our private investment sector, and I’m really hopeful the Prime Minister will be able to meet that target of being able to sign an agreement with us by mid-November.”
Asked about Alberta’s renewed push for a west coast pipeline, Smith said the province is prepared to take a leadership role if needed. “People shouldn’t be surprised we’re a proponent,” she said. “Every other province has been proponents of very big projects. What we’ve seen over the past ten years of terrible policies is that we have to step in to make sure our product gets to market.”
She added that eliminating the federal emissions cap would help restore industry confidence. “One of the things that will give confidence is the elimination of the emissions cap,” she said. “We’ve heard a number of analysts say that if you have an emissions cap that is so aggressive you have to reach targets by 2030 or 2035, the companies will have to shut in by two million barrels by 2035.”
Smith said Alberta is pursuing “a view of all of the above” on export routes, including potential pipelines to the west, south, east and even to Churchill, Man. “By 2050 we may need 120 million barrels a day,” she said. “We think Canada should have a part of that growing market.”
The premier said pipelines should ultimately be built by industry, not taxpayers. “Pipelines should be built by the private sector,” she said. “We had 500 billion dollars of private capital we estimate that was destined for our market that went elsewhere.”
Smith’s meetings in Ottawa capped a week-long trip to central Canada, where she also spoke at the Canada Strong and Free Network conference and met with investors and business leaders. She said Alberta’s goal is to rebuild relationships in eastern markets and showcase the province’s commitment to responsible energy development and carbon-neutral production by 2050.
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