The National Post reports in its Wednesday edition that at the end of November, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Danielle Smith signed a memorandum of understanding to secure a new oil pipeline and lower carbon emissions. The Post's John Ivison writes that the mood in the oil patch has since soured. Just before Christmas, Environment and Climate Change Canada released a paper on more stringent carbon markets, which dampened the initial optimism. Ottawa aims for tighter carbon markets where demand for credits exceeds supply, raising prices and encouraging emission reductions. Ms. Smith's government has destabilized the carbon credit market with an oversupply in Alberta, such that the effective price is now around $40 a tonne, and hardly any incentive at all for industry to lower emissions. Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers president Lisa Baiton said the discussion paper was "fundamentally misaligned." Ms. Smith wrote to Mr. Carney after the U.S. action in Venezuela. She urged him to ensure federal negotiators "avoid the pitfall of creating an overly aggressive carbon pricing system that makes our oil and gas resources uncompetitive with producers in the U.S., Middle East, Russia and Venezuela."