The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Feb. 18, edition that Prime Minister Mark Carney's modus operandi is to retain onerous policies by sleight-of-hand. The Globe's guest columnist Kenneth Green writes that Mr. Carney appeared to have eliminated the consumer carbon tax. In reality, he shifted the tax burden to Canada's large industrial emitters. The tax remains, but its invisibility has alleviated the political pressure on Mr. Carney. The pipeline problem highlights Alberta's struggle to maintain oil production from its oil sands and access non-U.S. markets. To address this contentious issue, Mr. Carney opted to "neutralize" it by forming a deal with Alberta to weaken or partially mitigate Ottawa's regulations, such as emissions caps on the oil and gas sector and the pipeline approval process. Except most of that is an illusion, says Mr. Green. As part of the deal, Alberta had to pledge fealty to Ottawa's greenhouse-gas control plan to 2050, and critically, raise its own "industrial" carbon tax, which would make an explicit oil and gas emission cap unnecessary. All in return for an illusion of certainty that Ottawa will allow a pipeline to the British Columbia coast.