The federal government is reportedly preparing to sign a major-projects agreement with British Columbia as early as next week. No extra conditions. No side deals. Just an agreement to move projects forward.

Alberta, however, appears to be getting a different deal.

According to reporting in The Globe and Mail, Ottawa wants Alberta to reach an agreement on the multibillion-dollar Pathways carbon-capture project at the same time it pitches a new West Coast oil pipeline.

That's an additional hurdle that B.C. doesn't appear to be facing.

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The Pathways project is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars and has been the subject of years of negotiations over subsidies, tax credits and regulatory approvals.

Alberta's energy sector has long argued that carbon taxes and emissions requirements already make Canadian producers less competitive than their American counterparts. A recent study from the Fraser Institute concluded that Canada's industrial carbon policies increase costs for the oil and gas sector and weaken its competitiveness against U.S. producers.

The issue isn't whether carbon capture is good or bad. It's why Alberta appears to be the only province being told it must solve another massive policy file before getting a nation-building project off the ground.

B.C. gets a major-projects agreement.

Alberta gets a major-projects agreement, plus homework.

For a province that has spent years complaining about different rules and different standards, this is exactly the kind of thing that fuels alienation.