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Carney, Alberta premier discuss energy projects in Ottawa · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well.
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  Speaker 2: On Parliament Hill today, Prime Minister Mark Karney is meeting
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  Speaker 2: with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. The pair is set to
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  Speaker 2: discuss an energy deal based on that Memorandum of Understanding
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  Speaker 2: that they signed last year.
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  Speaker 1: We're working to make Canada work better for Alberton's and
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  Speaker 1: for all Canadians, and when Canada works well, it's good
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  Speaker 1: for the world. And I think you probably I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: you did. I certainly hear it when I go around
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  Speaker 1: the world and meet our partners that they want more
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  Speaker 1: cannon and more Alberta still.
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  Speaker 3: Have a few things to work out, and I hope
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  Speaker 3: that we can get to the finish line on signing
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  Speaker 3: that MoU. I know industry is getting a bit impatient,
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  Speaker 3: Alberton's are getting a little bit impatient, and if we're
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  Speaker 3: going to move forward with that MEMOO, I hope it
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  Speaker 3: happens in the next number of days, because I think
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  Speaker 3: in Alberta there does need to be a demonstration that
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  Speaker 3: Canada can work now.
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  Speaker 2: This visit comes amid evolving negotiations between the federal governments
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  Speaker 2: and Alberta over energy projects and environmental regulations. ABC's Janis
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: McGregor has more now on today's meeting and the premier's
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  Speaker 2: busy agenda while she's in Ottawa.
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  Speaker 4: She's actually the featured keynote as the day goes on
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  Speaker 4: at the Canada Strong and Free Networks conference here in
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  Speaker 4: town for conservative activists, and we'll see if sort of
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  Speaker 4: reporters have a chance to put some questions to her
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  Speaker 4: as the day goes on sort of around that event.
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  Speaker 4: But when you put two leaders in a room and
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  Speaker 4: they do have things to work out, as we understand
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  Speaker 4: they do in the case of this attempt to be
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  Speaker 4: able to move forward with a new pipeline for Alberta's bitchman,
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  Speaker 4: it does help these face to face conversations when you
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  Speaker 4: have sticking points that you're trying to work through. What
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  Speaker 4: we understand them to be are primarily two things. The
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  Speaker 4: first has to do with the industrial price on carbon.
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  Speaker 4: Alberta required to have this in place in order for
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  Speaker 4: the federal government to support the project. The federal government
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  Speaker 4: wants a timeline a ramping up of that price to
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  Speaker 4: be much faster, much shorter her then what Alberta and
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  Speaker 4: of course the private sector industry Partners at Daniel Smith
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  Speaker 4: is sort of lobbying for and wants to partner with
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  Speaker 4: and work with on this pipeline longer horizon than rather
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  Speaker 4: a shorter horizon than what the industry and the province
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  Speaker 4: would like to see. So that's one of the things
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  Speaker 4: the carbon price. But the other thing has to do
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  Speaker 4: with carbon capture and storage. This was a major investment
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  Speaker 4: at pitch, if you will, from the Oil Sands Alliance
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  Speaker 4: to be able to offset the carbon emissions from increased
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  Speaker 4: oil production with this kind of new idea facility to
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  Speaker 4: sort of trap the carbon in an innovative way. The
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  Speaker 4: federal government said yes, it would invest in this, would
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  Speaker 4: greenlight this, but earlier this week the Oil Sands Alliance
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  Speaker 4: started making noises that in fact, it feels that investments
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  Speaker 4: can't really move ahead at this time because the regulatory
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  Speaker 4: burden on them still remains too high in terms of what,
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  Speaker 4: for example, the federal government imposes before it's prepared to
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  Speaker 4: green light projects. Now News this week has been reporting
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  Speaker 4: that the Carney government is taking another stab at bringing
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  Speaker 4: in legislation to change several acts and make it faster
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  Speaker 4: for regulatory approval to be granted for a project like that,
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  Speaker 4: and not necessarily even requiring any more a National Interest designation.
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  Speaker 4: But something some changes that would be a place across
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  Speaker 4: the board to cover a broader array of different things.
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  Speaker 4: The Prime Minister, though, on Wednesday and got a bit
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  Speaker 4: of tape here just to remind people of his position,
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  Speaker 4: was still at the same time insisting that even as
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  Speaker 4: these projects move forward, Canada does need to be working
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  Speaker 4: to bring its emissions down if it wants to diversify
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  Speaker 4: its energy exports to new markets, particularly in Europe and Asia.
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  Speaker 1: One of the key selling points for Canadian conventional energy
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  Speaker 1: will be that it's low risk. Canada's the lowest risk jurisdiction,
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  Speaker 1: low cost, low margin cost. We are continuing to work
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  Speaker 1: on that and low carbon. That's what the Government of
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  Speaker 1: Canada is working with the Government of Alberta in order
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  Speaker 1: to produce a comprehensive approach through our MoU. We're making
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  Speaker 1: good progress on that and that's going to make the
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  Speaker 1: oil sense more competitive, is going to make Canada more competitive.
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  Speaker 4: One of Karney's arguments is that with energy prices spiking
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  Speaker 4: right now, the industry really can't plead poverty anymore as
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  Speaker 4: an excuse for not doing this. However, the Trump administration
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  Speaker 4: has also opened up a new option for the oil
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  Speaker 4: and gas industry, the new possibility of new pipelines heading south,
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  Speaker 4: so they could perhaps ramp up production even if Smith's
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  Speaker 4: pipeline doesn't go ahead.
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  Speaker 2: And of course there will be no shortage of topics
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  Speaker 2: for these two to discuss because this meeting also comes
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  Speaker 2: amid the fallout over that voter data breach involving Alberta separatists.
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  Speaker 2: So I wonder whether or not that might come up
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  Speaker 2: in that meeting today.
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  Speaker 4: Well, it has to be the elephant in the room, right.
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  Speaker 4: You heard Smith there talk about the need for Alberta
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  Speaker 4: to see a demonstration of federal government wanting to work
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  Speaker 4: with Alberta. Of course, resource industries long grievance that Ottawa
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  Speaker 4: is holding them back, right, and it fuels separatism in Alberta.
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  Speaker 4: But the Prime Minister at the same time has also
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  Speaker 4: spoken out about the inappropriateness and his concern about the
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  Speaker 4: disclosure of Alberta's voters list and how serious this is.
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  Speaker 4: Of course, we've also had some analysis this week from
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  Speaker 4: foreign interference watchdogs pointing out that separatist messages have been
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  Speaker 4: amplified by sources known to have origins in Russia and
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  Speaker 4: also Trump back US American forces sort of helping to
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  Speaker 4: amplify those messages. So this is all getting really serious,
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  Speaker 4: really fast. Daniel Smith has obtained security clearance to be
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  Speaker 4: able to start receiving intelligence briefings to understand the national
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  Speaker 4: security implications here, darkening into potentially something very serious for
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  Speaker 4: her party in Alberta, but also national unity as a whole.
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  Speaker 2: The CBC's McGregor in Ottawa, Thank you, m