There’s plenty of talk these days about the Carney government striking a grand bargain with Alberta and Canada’s oil and gas sector.

But how does that talk become a real deal?

It’s a curious question, as Ottawa wants to see the sprawling Pathways Alliance carbon capture project get built to help decarbonize the oilsands, while industry and the UCP government want to see pipelines built and petroleum production increased.

An open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, signed by 95 top brass and industry groups, was released Monday evening, welcoming recent federal changes to establish a new Major Projects Office and release an initial list of projects to be fast-tracked for government approval.

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However, it’s not enough to become a grand bargain.

“Those steps are necessary, but they’re not fully sufficient. The policy changes that are required to stimulate investment are still there,” said Rich Kruger, CEO of Suncor Energy, one of the members of the Pathways Alliance group of six major oilsands operators.

“I’ll go to the Grand Bargain. (It) is Pathways, in terms of achieving significant emissions reductions, a pipeline in terms of expanded market access — but those two have to be coupled with material upstream growth.

“It’s really a three-legged stool that’s required. So any one of those legs without the other two really doesn’t achieve the objective.”

In essence, the industry is saying further changes are needed by Ottawa to complete the stool, and that involves removing or overhauling problematic federal policy impeding investment into the sector.

The group reiterated its previous call to overhaul the Impact Assessment Act, remove the federal tanker ban off the northern B.C. coast, ditch the industry emissions cap and shorten approval timelines for all projects within months — not years — of application.

“Canada still lacks the clear, competitive and........

© Calgary Herald