OTTAWA - Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney signed an agreement with the western energy-producing province of Alberta to advance a new oil pipeline, sparking immediate concerns about Ottawa's commitment to battling climate change.
The memorandum of understanding charts a plan for a pipeline going from Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast, to boost oil exports to Asia -- in line with Carney's goal of expanding overseas trade to offset damage from US President Donald Trump's trade war.
"At the core of the agreement, of course, is a priority to have a pipeline to Asia," Carney said ahead of the signing alongside Alberta's conservative Premier Danielle Smith.
Aside from broadening exports, the plan endorses an overall increase in Alberta oil and gas production.
The deal marked a clear pivot for Carney's Liberal Party and a departure from the policies that defined former prime minister Justin Trudeau's decade in power.
Carney's culture minister, Stephen Guilbeault -- who was Trudeau's environment minister -- resigned from the cabinet in protest over the pipeline deal hours after it was signed.
"I chose to enter politics to champion the fight against climate change," Guilbeault said in a statement.
He said he "strongly" opposed the Alberta MoU, charging it would "move Canada further away from its greenhouse gas emission targets."
Guilbeault was the architect of several Trudeau-era climate policies, measures he said were being "dismantled."
The Trudeau-Guilbeault climate policies were also partly responsible for fueling a breakdown in relations between Alberta and Ottawa.