November 28, 2025
(Calgary, AB / Treaty 7 Territory) – Joint Statement from members of the Coalition for Responsible Energy (C4RE) regarding the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta released on Nov. 27, 2025.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the governments of Alberta and Canada, and released on Nov. 27, 2025, demonstrates that both governments are committed to serving the interests of oil and gas companies and their wealthy executives at the expense of all Canadians, Indigenous Peoples, and the air, land, and water we all depend on.
Using “energy sovereignty” as a smokescreen, this MOU abandons many of Canada’s crucial climate policies while also neglecting its commitment to truth and reconciliation, in return for new fossil fuel infrastructure, increased oil and gas production, plus investments into carbon capture and storage, AI data centres, and nuclear energy (among others).
“This entire MOU is pure deception,” said Phillip Meintzer, co-founder of Alberta’s Coalition for Responsible Energy (C4RE). “There is no such thing as low emission bitumen, carbon capture doesn’t work at scale, Indigenous co-ownership is not the same as reconciliation, and doubling down on fossil fuels and AI data centres will not make life cheaper for everyday working Canadians. The whole thing is a farce, there is no grand bargain here.”
The first objective of the MOU is to “increase production of Alberta oil and gas,” and along with increased production means increased environmental impacts, including (but not limited to): increased land disturbance, increased freshwater use, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and increased impacts to the health and wellbeing of nearby communities and wildlife.
At the same time, the proposal for a new bitumen pipeline from Alberta’s oilsands transporting “at least one million barrels a day,” is incompatible with Canada’s commitment to international climate targets. In fact, the word “climate” is not mentioned even once within the entire document.
“This is a statement that both governments care more about serving industry than the health of the climate or human beings,” said Cameron Hunter, Conservation Specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA). “The agreement suspends the Clean Electricity Regulations for Alberta, weakens environmental regulations, allows exemptions from the Oil and Gas Emissions Cap, and amends the Competition Act to remove greenwashing provisions. It allows Indigenous Rights for consultation to be ignored, and rolls back environmental protections and climate change progress.”
Evidence shows that the majority of all currently known fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground to allow for a 50 percent chance of limiting warming below 1.5° and that all new fossil fuel developments must be halted to meet net zero emissions by 2050. This means that to achieve our climate targets, we must leave all known fossil fuel reserves in the ground and stop all new or proposed fossil fuel projects. Including this proposed pipeline.
The MOU also fails to uphold Canada’s commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the principle of free, prior, and informed consent. The MOU states that the governments of Alberta and Canada will consult with Indigenous Peoples and accommodate their needs only “where appropriate,” which seems to allow settler-colonial governments total discretion as to how they want to observe Indigenous Rights. The word “consent” isn’t even mentioned in the document.
Providing opportunities for Indigenous ownership or co-ownership of projects is mentioned a handful of times throughout the MOU. This is an example of “economic reconciliation” which is a colonial tool that has been criticized for only giving Indigenous communities a small cut of the benefits from resource development, while allowing extractive projects to continue within their traditional lands.
“Indigenous co-ownership is just another form of forced assimilation into a system that’s built on the exploitation and erasure of Indigenous communities and Indigenous ways of life,” said Jesse Cardinal, executive director of Keepers of the Water. “Communities wouldn’t feel coerced into accepting these deals from industry if colonization and extractive developments hadn’t destroyed traditional livelihoods in the first place. Now they want to feed us the crumbs.”
As other regions of the world transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources, there’s a risk that Alberta’s oil and gas may no longer be desirable. This creates a massive risk for Indigenous communities, because ownership (and/or co-ownership) could strand them with large financial liabilities (i.e., closure, reclamation, and remediation for any infrastructure, land disturbance, and associated pollutants).
While our coalition recognizes that it was never the purpose of this MOU, the agreement fails to acknowledge the government of Alberta’s continued failure to address the cleanup of existing oil and gas infrastructure and disturbance across the province.
There are already more than 320 thousand oil and gas wells, 450 thousand kilometres of pipeline, 40 thousand facilities, and around 1.5 trillion litres of toxic tailings littered across Alberta that have yet to be cleaned up after nearly a century of energy development.
To date, the government of Alberta has failed to make companies pay for, and clean up these liabilities as they are legally required to do. Many of these companies are also skipping out on paying their municipal property taxes and compensation to landowners, or they dump their unprofitable assets onto financially weaker companies who can’t afford cleanup. The social license for additional oil and gas infrastructure in Alberta is quickly eroding, and the government of Alberta should be forcing companies to clean up their mess before proceeding with any new pipelines.
This MOU should demonstrate to all Canadians that the government of Alberta and the government of Canada are playing on the same team – lining up alongside the fossil fuel industry. This agreement has nothing to do with energy sovereignty, as renewables would make Canada more self-sufficient by reducing our reliance on shifting global commodity markets, while also reducing costs for everyday people.
The purpose of this MOU is plain and simple for all to see. Both governments are committed to rolling back regulations to allow oil and gas companies to make even more money despite years of record profits and amidst years of record production. The oil and gas industry is not struggling and they do not need additional government support.
The Coalition for Responsible Energy and its member organizations vehemently oppose this agreement and we encourage all Canadians, both settlers and Indigenous Peoples to stand united against this plan to put oil and gas corporations before the public interest.
Signed by the following C4RE members:
- Phillip Meintzer, Co-founder, Coalition for Responsible Energy
- Jesse Cardinal, Executive Director, Keepers of the Water
- Cameron Hunter, Conservation specialist, Alberta Wilderness Association
- Jared Blustein, Executive Director, Calgary Climate Hub
- Mark Dorin, Vice Chair and Director, Polluter Pay Federation
- Tylene Appel, Coordinating Committee, Seniors for Climate Action Now! Edmonton
- Robert Wilde, Council of Canadians, Edmonton Chapter
- Colin Smith, Bioregional Coordinator, Land Lovers Network
- Claire Kraatz, Co-founder, For Our Kids Alberta
- Jenny Yeremiy, The Gravity Well
- Shasta Webb, Coordinator, Common Horizon Calgary
- Natalie Odd, Executive Director, Alberta Environmental Network
For media inquiries, contact:
Phillip Meintzer
(403) 771-1647
phillip@ResponsibleEnergyAB.ca