Skip to Content Subscribe Our Offers My Account Manage My Subscriptions FAQ Newsletters Canada Canadian True Crime Canadian Politics Health World Israel & Middle East Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Comics NP News Quiz New York Times Crossword Horoscopes Life Eating & Drinking Style Sponsored Play for Ontario Travel Travel Canada Travel USA Travel International Cruises Travel Essentials Culture Books Celebrity Movies Music Theatre Television Business Essentials Advice Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Buy Canadian Home Living Outdoor Living Kitchen & Dining Tech Style & Beauty Personal Care Entertainment & Hobbies Gift Guide Travel Guide Amazon Prime Day Deals Savings National Post Store More Sports Hockey Baseball Basketball Football Soccer Golf Tennis Driving Vehicle Research Reviews News Gear Guide Obituaries Place an Obituary Place an In Memoriam Classifieds Place an Ad Celebrations Working Business Ads Archives Healthing Epaper Manage Print Subscription Profile Settings My Subscriptions Saved Articles My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ Newsletters Canada World Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Life Shopping Epaper Manage Print Subscription HomeNP CommentTasha Kheiriddin: This is why Carney is succeedingOn pipelines, he is following the publicLast updated 0 minutes ago You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives to a Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill June 10, 2026. Photo by Blair Gable /PostmediaDo politicians start parades, or merely get in front of them? That’s a question Canadians might be asking this week, following news that the government was polling them on the issue of oil pipelines last fall — just days before Prime Minister Mark Carney announced an agreement with Alberta to explore building a new one to B.C.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorAccording to news reports, the Privy Council Office added a question to its weekly poll on Nov. 23 about whether Canadians supported “new or expanded oil pipelines.” The results were clear: 67 per cent approved, including a majority in every province. Beautiful B.C. clocked in at 64 per cent, eco-conscious Quebec at 56 per cent. On November 27, Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed a Memorandum of Understanding to “make Canada a global energy superpower” with great fanfare.The following week, the government asked a more pointed question: “(D)espite their contribution to the economy, some point out that building pipelines involves cutting corridors across ecosystems, with impacts on nature and habitat, and pipelines come with risks of leaks and spills. Given that, do you support new or expanded pipelines?”This newsletter from NP Comment tackles the topics you care about. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againAgain, a majority of Canadians in every province said yes: 62 per cent nationally, 60 per cent in B. C. and 50 per cent in Quebec. A green light for black gold.Though PCO staff is non-partisan, the program is supervised by folks in the Prime Minister’s Office, who most definitely are partisan. The polls are designed to help the prime minister, cabinet, PMO staff and bureaucrats take the pulse of the nation. Which in this case showed a clear desire for economic development, even if it involved fouling the environment a little bit.This dovetails with a slew of surveys showing that the environment has dropped down Canadians’ priority list. A recent Abacus poll shows the cost of living to be the dominant issue at 67 per cent; “the economy” comes second at 39 per cent. Climate change and the environment sit in ninth place, at 13 per cent — a drop from 29 per cent in 2023, when it was a top three concern.In other words, Carney is perfectly safe, politically speaking, in approving projects that will eventually see an extra million barrels of oil a day pumped out of the oil sands, something that would have been unthinkable under the previous Liberal government of Justin Trudeau.The irony, of course, is that in another life, Carney served as the United Nations’ Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. He was appointed to the post in December 2019, three months after then-15-year-old Greta Thunberg ripped a strip off world leaders in her infamous “how dare you” speech at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.How things have changed in seven years. Last week, Carney was all smiles as he announced that governments in Ottawa and Edmonton would finance a new oil pipeline from Bruderheim, Alta. to Delta, B.C. As for Thunberg, today the 23-year-old has moved on from saving the planet to starting a “global intifada” for “Palestine.”Yes, the proposed West Coast Pipeline’s southern route avoids the need to reverse the oil tanker moratorium on B.C.’s northwest coast, and the venture is twinned with the Pathways project, a carbon capture project designed to offset rising emissions. But it’s still safe to say that Carney 1.0 might have been a little less enthused.This isn’t to say that the prime minister hasn’t made the right decision. It does show, however, that he is a pragmatist, not an ideologue. For years, his virtue-signalling predecessor treated Alberta as a pariah province, failed to capitalize on the world’s appetite for LNG, and slapped Canadians with punitive carbon taxes. Now those things thankfully feel like a distant memory. But they shouldn’t have happened at all. Canada could have been an “energy superpower” years ago. And it shouldn’t have taken polls to change that.Postmedia NetworkTasha Kheiriddin is Postmedia’s national politics columnist. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.