Ottawa spent years restricting Alberta's energy industry and is now asking for credit for "unlocking" Canada's energy potential.

Prime Minister Mark Carney recently declared that it is time to "unlock Canada's full potential as an energy superpower." But for many Albertans, that raises an obvious question: Who put the locks on in the first place?

It’s time to unlock Canada’s full potential as an energy superpower. pic.twitter.com/lSPg1QcSMO

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) June 30, 2026

Over the past decade, the federal government imposed or proposed a series of policies fiercely opposed by Alberta's energy sector, including:

• A federal carbon pricing regime;
• The proposed oil and gas emissions cap;
• The Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which effectively bans crude oil tankers from British Columbia's north coast;
• Lengthy federal project reviews and regulatory hurdles that industry leaders say made major projects difficult to finance.

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Even the federal government's own recent actions suggest an acknowledgment that some of those policies became obstacles to development. Ottawa is now pursuing major-project agreements with Alberta, talking openly about new pipelines and presenting energy development as a national priority.

That's why critics like Keith Wilson argue Carney's comments amount to a political reversal rather than a new vision.

Ottawa locked Alberta’s energy potential with anti-energy laws, endless delays, carbon taxes, emissions caps, tanker bans, and political hostility.

Now Ottawa wants praise for promising to “unlock” what it should never have locked in the first place.

That is not a victory. That… pic.twitter.com/4xQ7IN6ON9

— Keith Wilson (@ikwilson) July 2, 2026

The irony isn't lost on Alberta. For years, federal politicians and regulators argued that stricter climate policies and additional conditions on oil and gas development were necessary.

Now, amid global energy insecurity and economic concerns, Ottawa is using the language of energy expansion and nation-building.