ICYMI: Nov. 24-30

Your weekly roundup and blogroll.

Dec 01, 2025

I had a busy week this week, but nothing I worked on has been published yet.

Now might be a good time to let you know that I’m working on another book, with the manuscript due at the end of January. This means that I won’t be publishing as regularly as normal until then.

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Story of the Week

Alberta gets its way in deal with Ottawa, John Woodside and Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer (Nov. 27)

The truce between Alberta and the federal government has lit a political firestorm for Carney and revealed a preference for governance by fiat. Despite Carney previously promising any major project would require the consent of affected provinces and Indigenous groups, rhetoric has proven separate from action.
Many impacted First Nations, including the powerful Coastal First Nations alliance, remain fiercely opposed to the plan. Council of the Haida Nation president Gaagwiis told Canada’s National Observer the federal government did not speak with him — despite the Haida Nation currently negotiating its title to the waters oil tankers would threaten. BC Premier David Eby was not consulted on the agreement, and reportedly told Carney on a phone call it was “unacceptable” to not be included in the negotiations.
Even the Liberal cabinet was not briefed on the deal until days before it was publicly unveiled.
The MOU is the result of months of closed-door negotiations. Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia, who Carney poached from Hydro-Quebec, stickhandled the terms from the federal side.
A briefing note prepared for federal Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson Canada’s National Observer received through an access to information request described Alberta’s “special negotiating team” was angling for a binding agreement across a number of issues reflected in Thursday’s MOU.
Alberta wanted “guaranteed” access to the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic coasts, as well as the repeal of the oil tanker moratorium, clean electricity regulations, the oil and gas emissions cap, the electric vehicle sales mandate and any federal policies directed at industrial carbon emissions.
The MOU covers access to the Pacific and carves out exemptions for Alberta for the oil tanker moratorium and clean electricity regulations. The federal budget signalled the oil and gas cap would not proceed, and in September Carney paused the electric vehicle sales mandate. The only climate plank the federal government defended was industrial carbon pricing.
The MOU does not appear to prevent Alberta from double crossing Ottawa on this pact if a pipeline is built.