This article originally appeared in What’s Up with Alberta.
By Heather Exner-Pirot, December 9, 2025
Of all the complaints the progressive factions of the federation like to make about Alberta, the one that rings truest is the accusation that the province and its inhabitants are congenitally aggrieved.
Mind you, we have had plenty to feel aggrieved about. The “nine bad laws” introduced by the Trudeau government and denounced by Premier Danielle Smith have been an anchor on our productivity and growth. Confederation was never meant to be an economic suicide pact, and yet the ruling class of the last 10 years put the country on a trajectory that has objectively made it weaker and poorer. Albertans did not want to go down with the ship, and were vocal about that, even difficult.
It is with relief and satisfaction that many Albertans are now experiencing a different feeling: a sense of optimism about our place in Canada. That is because for the first time in a long time the country’s policies are being driven by the silent majority who prioritize affordability and economic growth, instead of the loud minority who prioritize climate performance, as manifested in the Canada-Alberta memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last month.
The blowback from the progressive factions of the Liberal party, alongside their counterparts in the NDP and Green Party, has been fierce. But it is divorced from the actual popularity of the deal, and of oil and gas production in Canada in particular.
Recent polling from Abacus has shown the MOU is popular, with net support as high as +63 in Alberta. Even in Quebec and B.C., the MOU is viewed favourably, with net support of +16 and +23 respectively.
This broadly matches support for building pipelines in Canada. Since President Donald Trump was elected to a second term, I have not seen a poll that did not show majority support in Canada for a new pipeline.
The media and progressive politicians have tried to make oil and gas into a wedge issue in this country, but there’s just one problem: it turns out Canadians are not particularly divided on the issue.
It is in this public opinion environment that Prime Minister Carney has determined to drag his party back into the centre of Canadian politics, and that centre is further west than it was in the past.
Carney the central banker, Oxford PhD, UN special envoy on climate and finance and author of the book “Value(s)” may seem an unlikely champion for pragmatism on energy and climate. But he deserves credit for expending some political capital on a deal he has undoubtedly calculated will bring tangible benefits to the nation.
One might question his commitment to principle, but not his proficiency at math. It’s not only public opinion that has driven his shift; our economic and geopolitical situations demand it. We will not double non-U.S. exports, we will not be the fastest growing economy in the G7, and we will not become an energy superpower without the provisions agreed to in the MOU. Canada’s security and prosperity depend to a significant extent on a policy framework that allows us to produce and export more oil and gas.
All of this appears to be deeply disconcerting to progressives in urban ridings of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, who feel marginalized, unheard — “aggrieved,” even.
They will earn little sympathy in Wild Rose Country.
Their ideology has seemed targeted not on greenhouse gases or heavy emitting sectors in general, but on Alberta, the oilsands and Danielle Smith in particular.
The province has been unfairly villainized and caricatured. It is a relief to be reminded that the broader Canadian family does not carry the same contempt for Alberta’s industry as does a narrow band of elites.
Heather Exner-Pirot is director of energy, natural resources and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute
