The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, May 21, edition that Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith recently agreed on steps for a new pipeline to connect Alberta oil and gas to Asian markets. The Globe's guest columnists Julio Mejia and Elmira Aliakbari write that Alberta, however, will face a higher industrial carbon tax and increased support for the expensive Pathways carbon-capture project, which will reduce the competitiveness of its energy sector. Alberta's industrial carbon tax system sets emissions limits for large facilities like oil sands operations and refineries. Companies that exceed these limits must pay a fee, buy credits from lower emitters, or invest in emissions-reduction projects, incurring costs for their excess emissions. In May, 2025, the Alberta government froze its industrial carbon tax at $95 for every tonne of carbon emissions, breaking from the federal path, set under the government of then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, that would have reached $170 by 2030. But under the new agreement, Alberta's effective carbon tax will reach $130 a tonne by 2040. No other major energy-producing country imposes a comparable burden on carbon-intensive industries such as oil and gas.