Skepticism of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s stated desire to fast-track development in Canada is warranted. But we don’t have to wait forever, or even for long, to see how genuine he is: all he has to do is greenlight Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s plan for a new pipeline, and it’ll be clear where he stands.

Smith does not personally want to build said pipeline, which would run Alberta bitumen to the northern B.C. coast. But she does want to begin its early planning and secure the federal fast-track status that defines the Carney approach to development. Regarding actual construction, she intends to hand this hypothetical pipeline off to a private-sector component long before shovels hit the ground.

The theory is that securing a private-sector proponent will be easier once the feds give

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