The Buzz Nov 29th 2025: Canada's new pipeline deal

The Buzz Nov 29th 2025: Canada's new pipeline deal

Welcome to the weekend and welcome to The Buzz.

So, this was quite a week. I’ll try to give you some things to think about on the week’s biggest story.

Trying to move a country forward in challenging times starts with working together, planning together, and deciding together. Canada is an especially tricky case because we are so big, so diverse, so full of conflicting interests, hopes, and dreams. Just because one area, or one leader, wants one thing doesn’t mean those on the other side of the country or even just next door share the same desires. Just because we are a country full of incredible natural wealth doesn’t mean we all feel the same about exploiting and living off those treasures. Sometimes we all pull together, usually at times when we feel the national good is at stake… or when we, all of us, feel threatened. Some of us feel that way now, but not all of us. Some feel that no matter how much we feel our national identity, our national economy, our national well-being may be under attack, there’s only so far we should go to position ourselves against the threat.

That’s where the “p” word enters the discussion. Pipeline. Ottawa and Alberta, historically at odds for decades on resource management, now stand hand in hand. They have a mutual belief that a new pipeline and all that goes with it is what we need to create new markets in Asia for Canadian oil from the home of the world’s fourth-largest oil reserve.

Asia would counter our soured trade relationship with the United States, which the prime minister says will never, ever, be the same as it was even a year ago. The Asia plan would mean billions of dollars in new revenue, tens of thousands of new jobs, and the list goes on. Meanwhile, the BC government, Indigenous groups, and those who believe in climate and environmental concerns, see a potentially disastrous downside. They feel that punching through a pipeline and opening up coastal waters to huge oil tankers slicing through waterways that are pristine and part of a centuries-old heritage is just far too high a risk to take.

That is where this week has brought us. Canada at odds with itself over its future.

Enough from me. Let’s see what some truly bright minds have to say about all this, starting with Andrew Coyne in The Globe and Mail:

🔒 The Alberta-Ottawa energy deal marks a major shift in Canadian politics

Now let’s flip this story on its head.

Stephen Maher, like Andrew, has years of experience covering national and provincial politics. He sees things differently in this piece for the Toronto Star:

🔒 Opinion | Mark Carney’s in a bigger mess than he thinks with this pipeline

Those are two big-picture views of this story.

Let’s narrow the lens and see how it played in Alberta and BC, where the oil comes from, and where it would go through. First, here’s Don Braid’s view from Edmonton:

Braid: Smith scores a major victory as Ottawa retreats from a decade of meddling

Now to Vancouver, where Alec Lazenby wrote this piece for the Vancouver Sun:

David Eby rules out lawsuit over pipeline deal but warns proposal puts other projects at risk

Not surprisingly, the programs on my podcast this week had lots to say about all this.

Yesterday’s Good Talk with Chantal Hebert and Bruce Anderson can be found here with its YouTube version.

Another solid Moore Butts conversation dealt with the pipeline dilemma as well and the audio version is right here.

And if you’re looking to understand Donald Trump 2.0, check in with my Wednesday conversation with Keith Boag, which can be found here.

Speaking of Donald Trump and Canada/US relations, this was a good opinion piece that surfaced in the Toronto Star this week.

It comes from retired journalist Janice Kennedy:

🔒 Opinion | When the U.S. finally comes to its senses, Canada should think twice before crawling back

Here’s another Trump story.

Have American media organizations finally started to stiffen their spines for a fight against the US President trashing their relevance? Perhaps. See what you think of this:

Media Goes on Offense as Trump Steps Up His War on Journalism

We lost a special Canadian this week. Someone who made us proud, someone who made us laugh.

Colleen Jones was a friend to many, even those who didn't know her. She was a champion curler and an outstanding broadcaster. We lost her far too soon, cancer taking her at 65. This is how CBC's The National remembered her this week:

How Colleen Jones would want you to remember her

I’ve got a couple of AI pieces this week.

Don’t feel bad if this happens to you because apparently it happens to quite a few people. You’re using ChatGPT or some other AI service, and you suddenly think you are talking to another person, not a computer, but a real person. You aren’t, but you think you are.

Jeff Wise is a science journalist, and he wrote this for New York:

Is ChatGPT Conscious? Many users feel they’re talking to a real person. Scientists say it’s time to consider whether they’re onto something.

Ok, that was kind of fun. This isn’t.

It’s also about AI, but this is about where it’s going, and it’s written by someone who should know. You’ve been warned:

Godfather of AI Predicts Total Breakdown of Society

When I was young, and I’d go to the movies, everyone in the film smoked.

Or so it seemed. And it wasn’t by accident. The cigarette companies encouraged, and in some cases probably even paid the movie studios, to put cigarettes in between the fingers and lips of the stars. If it looked cool for them, then surely it would be cool for us moviegoers too.

But that was years ago. That doesn’t happen anymore. Or does it? Check this out in the Wall Street Journal:

🔒 Celebrities Are Making Smoking Cigarettes Cool Again

Now here’s a movie where no stars (even the brief appearance by the beloved Peter Moosebridge) will be found smoking. Go on, go see it. Take the kids, the grandkids. It’s Zootopia 2, where I enjoy another few seconds in the Zootopia spotlight!

Have a great week, see you in seven days!

The Buzz is a weekly publication from National Newswatch that shares insights and commentary on the week’s developments in politics, news and current affairs.