Industrial carbon price deal between Canada, Alberta will likely come Friday: sources

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa Friday morning in pursuit of finalizing the pipeline MOU.

The federal and Alberta governments are likely to announce Friday they’ve hashed out a deal on industrial carbon pricing, the final piece of the puzzle in their memorandum of understanding to get a pipeline to the West Coast built, sources confirm to CTV News.

They also say Canada and Alberta are working around the idea of setting the $130-a-tonne price by 2040, as opposed to 2030.

Twenty-thirty was considered a “sweet spot” for the $130 price because it is viewed as the threshold to kickstart massive decarbonization projects and help Canada meet targets set out in the Emissions Reduction Plan.

In November, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith inked an energy co-operation agreement, which outlined the conditions that need to be met for a new oil pipeline to the Pacific Coast to proceed.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) laid out deadlines by which the two parties need to agree on certain issues, including on an industrial carbon price, specifically stating Alberta’s system “will ramp up to a minimum effective credit price of $130 per tonne.”

They’re now six weeks past a self-imposed April 1 deadline to hash out a target date by which Alberta must meet the $130-per-tonne industrial carbon price and finalize the carbon capture project backed by the Pathways Alliance.

Sources say Carney is presenting the broad strokes of the agreement to his cabinet in a virtual meeting Wednesday.

News the federal and provincial governments had reached a deal on the industrial carbon price was first reported by the Calgary Herald and Global.

In an interview with CTV Question Period in March, Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin would not commit — when pressed several times by host Vassy Kapelos — to the 2030 target date.

With files from CTV News chief political correspondent Vassy Kapelos