{"id":47349,"date":"2026-05-15T22:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T22:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/47349\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T22:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T22:47:18","slug":"braid-smiths-economic-wins-with-ottawa-are-historic-and-may-move-the-dial-on-separatism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/47349\/","title":{"rendered":"Braid: Smith&#8217;s economic wins with Ottawa are historic and may move the dial on separatism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Premier Danielle Smith was almost jumping with glee and optimism Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">She has pulled off a deal that leads to a pipeline and will attract investors long soured on our overregulated energy industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The agreement isn\u2019t about separatism, but these days you can hardly turn a corner without bumping into it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The detailed deal with Prime Minister Mark Carney is exactly what Smith promised and hoped for \u2014 a deal to spike the separatist movement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Smith credited Carney. She praised \u201cco-operative federalism.\u201d For one historic moment, her expansionist view of Alberta meshed perfectly with his dreams of pulling Canada out of the U.S. orbit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">So, we have an <a href=\"https:\/\/calgaryherald.com\/news\/politics\/alberta-danielle-smith-mark-carney-sign-deal-oil-pipeline-carbon-pricing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:agreement to push a pipeline forward by summer;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;agreement to push a pipeline forward by summer&quot;}\" class=\"link \">agreement to push a pipeline forward by summer<\/a>. Construction could begin in 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The industrial carbon price is severely eased in Alberta\u2019s favour. That was essential to attract investment. All other provinces will get the benefit, Carney said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Carbon pricing goals are suddenly vague. Now it\u2019s about the carbon market, not mandated targets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Former prime minister Justin Trudeau had decreed an industrial price of $170 per tonne by 2030. That was designed to kill an industry. The new target is $140 by 2040.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This level, Smith and Carney agree, will grow production, help fill a pipeline and sequester carbon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Carney insists that this is still about climate change \u2014 a program that will work over the decades, rather than wind down Canada\u2019s most lucrative industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.news.yahoo.com\/braid-separatist-leaders-hatred-canada-232458525.html\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:hardline separatists will not be convinced;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;hardline separatists will not be convinced&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hardline separatists will not be convinced<\/a>. They\u2019ll post at least 15 per cent of the provincial vote on any independence referendum, no matter what Ottawa offers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Outsiders who sneer at their anger should consider the deadly-honest words of Clifford Sifton, Canada\u2019s Liberal interior minister, spoken in 1904.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\" Clifford Sifton, who as Canada\u2019s minister of the interior aggressively recruited immigrants to settle the West.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f88b06bfc1a415708c7165430e5c3fe8.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p> Clifford Sifton, who as Canada\u2019s minister of the interior aggressively recruited immigrants to settle the West.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWhat will Western Canada do for the Canadian organism?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt will furnish a steady and remunerative business to the manufacturers of Eastern Canada, giving assured prosperity where uncertainty now exists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThese are the things the West will do for the East.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That was the official job \u2014 to enrich the East.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Sifton spoke a year before Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A long time ago, you say. But Sifton accurately voiced Ottawa\u2019s colonial view of the Prairies right at the creation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It has been the Liberal policy handbook ever since, reaching an appalling apex in the Justin Trudeau years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Trudeau\u2019s Liberals envisaged a dominant EV industry in Ontario that would be sustained by forced purchases in the West. Shades of 1904.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What happened Friday was proof that federalism can work. Equally important, it was a sign that the prairie West, not just Alberta, has the power to push back hard and force results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Smith comes in for intense criticism these days, mostly over her perceived coddling of separatism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But she has won every single battle with Ottawa over the past year. One reason is the threat of separatism, which has finally broken through to seriously worry official Ottawa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.news.yahoo.com\/braid-smith-deflects-separatists-plan-201754762.html\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:separatist leaders believe they\u2019re playing her;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;separatist leaders believe they\u2019re playing her&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">separatist leaders believe they\u2019re playing her<\/a>, but in return, she uses them.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\" Separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre is seen during a rally in front of the Elections Alberta headquarters in Edmonton on May 4, 2026. He is also the UCP riding association president for the Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul riding.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1628ed913ce678750a54b0adec60f2cb.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p> Separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre is seen during a rally in front of the Elections Alberta headquarters in Edmonton on May 4, 2026. He is also the UCP riding association president for the Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul riding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In scope and importance, her victories against Ottawa outweigh former PC premier Peter Lougheed\u2019s limited victory in the oil pricing crisis after 1980.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ottawa has neutered the appalling<a href=\"https:\/\/ca.news.yahoo.com\/braid-carney-talks-nice-oil-172739826.html\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:greenwashing law, which would have jailed oil executives;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;greenwashing law, which would have jailed oil executives&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> greenwashing law, which would have jailed oil executives<\/a> who dared to promote environmental gains unless they met some vague international standard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Remember the oil and gas production cap, so beloved of ex-environment minister Steven Guilbeault, and so poisonous to any future for the industry?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The original MOU with Carney effectively killed it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Then came the clean electricity regulations, which Smith claimed would destroy Alberta\u2019s natural-gas fired supply.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">She noted, correctly, that the rules were a huge benefit to provinces with hydro power \u2014 especially B.C., Ontario and Quebec.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The MOU also set those regulations aside. Friday\u2019s pact finished the job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">No federal bill in decades has been as hated as Trudeau\u2019s Impact Assessment Act, which virtually banned big projects by subjecting them to endless reviews.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Largely because of Alberta\u2019s pressure, major projects will only face a single federal review, while Alberta alone will deal with provincial projects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This is an astonishing string of wins. Smith may have set up this province for decades of economic gains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Yes, the UCP fiddles with separatism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They legislate their invasive way into public libraries.d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They violate union rights. They have not fixed health care.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But on the future of Alberta\u2019s economy, Smith has won landmark victories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Spare a day to give her that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Don Braid\u2019s column appears regularly in the Herald<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">X and Bluesky: @DonBraid<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier Danielle Smith was almost jumping with glee and optimism Friday. She has pulled off a deal that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[20839,3178,127,111,8217,61,16556],"class_list":["post-47349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-clifford-sifton","tag-danielle-smith","tag-justin-trudeau","tag-mark-carney","tag-oil-pipeline","tag-ottawa","tag-separatism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}