With Alberta's independence referendum closing in, Carney delivers a pipeline on paper
Carney sells Pacific Link as an energy superpower moment. The industry, the courts and the Liberals' own record give Albertans reason to doubt it.
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Article by Rebel News staff.
Tonight on The Ezra Levant Show: Prime Minister Mark Carney designates a West Coast pipeline a project of national interest, 18 days before Alberta votes on leaving. Then a hard-left French mayor says violence "can be legitimate" while high schools burn from Roubaix to Marseille.
Carney calls Pacific Link a once-in-a-generation chance to make Canada an energy superpower and cut Alberta's 90 per cent reliance on American buyers. On paper, it is enormous: a million barrels a day from Bruderheim, Alta., to Delta, B.C., owned 50-50 by Ottawa and Alberta. Premier Danielle Smith called it "a significant victory."
Look past the ceremony and there is little there. There is no route and no agreed price. The Associated Press says $25 billion to $31 billion. Alberta says $35 billion to $44 billion. Open season is not until spring, conditions are not due until Sept. 1, 2027, and first oil is pencilled in for around 2032.
Industry has noticed. Pembina took a 10 per cent stake, then wrote that it retains full discretion over its final investment decision and has no at-risk development capital. The one private partner has put nothing on the line.
The obstacles are familiar. Ottawa consulted more than 130 Indigenous communities, and most would not endorse the project. Coastal First Nations, an advocacy alliance rather than a band with reserve standing, called it a "pipe dream" and vowed to use every tool to stop tankers. The courts have sided with that kind of opposition before. In 2018, the Federal Court of Appeal quashed Trans Mountain's approval over the duty to consult. Last year, a B.C. judge recognized Aboriginal title over land in Richmond, next door to Delta.
The tanker ban, Bill C-48, is still law. The Carney-Smith deal promises only an "appropriate adjustment" if needed.
Then there is the carbon catch. The pipeline is tied to the Pathways Alliance carbon capture project, and each depends on the other. Cenovus CEO Jon McKenzie has put the carbon capture bill as high as $30 billion, and Alberta has agreed to an industrial carbon price floor of $130 a tonne. Asian buyers pay for barrels, not carbon credits.
Albertans have seen this before. Northern Gateway and Energy East both died under the Liberals, the party Carney advised before he led it. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner summed up the record: "two signing ceremonies, countless media stories, and no pipelines built."
On Oct. 19, Albertans vote with a pipeline that has a name, a press release and a 2032 target. It has no route, no final price and not a dollar of private money at risk.
Across the Atlantic, France is on fire.
At Lycée Léonard de Vinci in Roubaix, the front door burned while teenagers filmed on their phones. In Nantes, the entrance hall of Lycée Nelson-Mandela was gutted. In Lille, masked men in black kicked a chemistry teacher in the back and chased him down the street. In Marseille, Reuters reported, the principal of Victor Hugo high school was doused in petrol.
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, alone, 356 high schools were blockaded. Police made 625 arrests, about two thirds of them minors. Eighty-three police officers and gendarmes were hurt, along with 119 students and staff. Île-de-France put school damage near €1 million, including more than €100,000 at Lycée Paul-Éluard in Saint-Denis.
There are real grievances. In the Créteil school district, classes run 32 to 35 students and teachers go missing. But overcrowded classrooms do not explain masked operators moving from school to school. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described troublemakers travelling between campuses to incite violence. Jean-Luc Mélenchon called the students "inoffensifs." Harmless.
The unmasked face of the week was Bally Bagayoko, 53, mayor of Saint-Denis, elected in March with 50.77 per cent for La France Insoumise. He showed up at the gate of the blockaded Lycée Paul-Éluard beside a burning dumpster, laughing and handing out high-fives as teenagers cheered. He denies lighting anything and calls the viral framing "fake news."
What he said on camera the next day is not in dispute, and prosecutors are now investigating it: "La violence peut être légitime, mais chaque fois qu'on peut l'éviter, c'est mieux." Violence can be legitimate, but whenever you can avoid it, that is better. He called the students children with a right to make mistakes, then told a reporter, "If I slap you, you're going to react."
The same day, students surrounded a BFMTV crew, roughed up two journalists and forced the crew out under escort. A girl on camera called BFM a "racist" outlet. The mayor posted three words: "Elle a raison !" She's right.
Paris police prefect Patrice Faure referred Bagayoko to prosecutors under Article 40 for incitement to commit a crime. Emmanuel Macron said no politician may legitimize violence. Nuñez said violence is never legitimate. Valérie Pécresse said she would send Paul-Éluard's repair bill to the mayor's city. Mélenchon accused police of "férocité" with an "obvious racist aftertaste." Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called that an insult.
The public is not fooled. A CSA poll found 55 per cent of French voters say LFI is manipulating the blockades. With the presidential election in April and May 2027, Marine Le Pen leads first-round polls at 31 to 36 per cent, Mélenchon trails at 14 to 20, and a runoff between them goes to Le Pen 70 to 30. A week of school fires with a mayor at the gate is the campaign.
Canadian coverage stayed thin. CTV ran wire copy calling the unrest "student protests" and "blockades," with no mention of the mayor. CBC, Radio-Canada and the Globe and Mail were quiet.
COMMENTS
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Sue Phillips commented 2026-10-01 22:05:34 -0400 FlagSuper disappointed in Smith. I thought she was a true Freedom fighter. Seems like she’s a sellout, like so many other politicians. This pipeline is BS. It will never happen. -
Jane Vandervliet commented 2026-10-01 21:11:22 -0400 FlagI will be utterly amazed if Pacific Link is built. Carney doesn’t ‘believe’ in Canada and the proof is the fact that Carney’s fortune is invested in Canada’s economic ‘enemy’, the USA (we are at war with them apparently). If Carney cared about Canada Brookfield would be a large investor in this proposed pipeline.
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Bruce Atchison commented 2026-10-01 20:45:55 -0400 FlagDamn that Danielle Smith! she’s doing it again. Remember Jim prentice and how gaga Danielle was toward him. Now it’s Carney’s turn to fool her. And should we stay, like Danielle wants, in a country of socialists and jihadists plus MAID?
