OTTAWA — Deciding how long it will take for Alberta’s industrial carbon tax to hit its new “minimum” of $130 per tonne should be based on what “industry can afford,” says Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

Smith made the comments fresh off the signing of a new energy and pipeline deal with Prime Minister Mark Carney, which throws the Liberal government’s support behind the construction of a new Alberta-B.C. bitumen pipeline and exempts the province from a set of clean electricity regulations.

Chief among the wins the prime minister has touted from the deal is Alberta’s commitment to strengthening its industrial carbon tax, which Smith had earlier this year frozen at $95 per tonne. Under the current federal standard, systems must progressively hike the tax to reach $170 per tonne by 2030.

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