The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Oct. 31, edition that talks between Ottawa, Alberta and oil sands companies aimed at delivering new policies to increase production may drag on past a Nov. 15 deadline, Imperial Oil chief executive officer John Whelan said Friday. The Globe's Emma Graney writes that Mr. Whelan, however, said he's "optimistic and encouraged" by the progress made so far. The talks originated from a memorandum of understanding signed by the provincial and federal governments in November, 2025, linking a new oil pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast with a major oil sands carbon-capture project called Pathways for lowering emissions. In July, the governments signed a non-binding MOU with five major oil sands companies to signal their support for new financial and regulatory frameworks that would "enable sustained and substantial oil sands development and production growth." On Friday, Imperial was the first of the five companies to report third quarter earnings. Mr. Whelan said, "There's no lack of energy or desire to get to definitive agreements." While they're all targeting Nov. 15, he said, "there's still a lot of work left to do" before the looming deadline.