Inside Politics: Fake Pipeline Progress in Ottawa, Schoolyard Politics in Manitoba

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s much-hyped pipeline breakthrough and the embarrassing behaviour of Manitoba MLAs shared the spotlight on the latest episode of Inside Politics with Kevin Klein—and neither came out looking good.

Klein, joined by Winnipeg Sun columnists Lawrence Pinsky, KC and Royce Koop, opened by giving Carney rare credit for his recent moves on the steel sector and a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on a proposed pipeline to the West Coast. But the panel quickly stripped away the spin.

Koop called the deal a clear political shift from the Trudeau era and acknowledged that regulatory carve-outs for Alberta could help spur development. Still, he warned viewers not to confuse an MOU with an actual project: no binding commitments, no shovels, no tankers—just a political framework that still faces resistance from First Nations, British Columbia Premier David Eby, Quebec politicians and investors who’ve been burned before.

Pinsky went further, branding the MOU “political, not economic,” and likening it to Schrödinger’s cat without the possibility it exists at all. The only firm change, he noted, is a higher industrial carbon price in Alberta by 2026, while the supposed path to a pipeline remains vague and revocable. “Don’t mistake this for economic development,” he warned. “It’s a talking point, not a turning point.”

The panel then turned their fire closer to home: the Manitoba Legislature, where Klein said he’d “never been more disappointed” in elected officials. They condemned a recent question period meltdown in which:

NDP minister Nahanni Fontaine allegedly shared a post celebrating the death of U.S. commentator Charlie Kirk and branded all male PC MLAs “misogynists”;

Progressive Conservatives responded by dredging up Premier Wab Kinew’s decades-old criminal record, for which he has a pardon;

The Speaker himself got drawn into the mud, reportedly telling a Tory MLA he was “not clever” before later apologizing.

Koop defended the idea of question period but said Manitoba now has “probably the worst atmosphere in Canada,” arguing that the Premier sets the tone and that Kinew has chosen confrontation over seriousness. Pinsky called the exchanges “schoolyard stupidity” at a time when Manitobans are dying in ER waiting rooms and the economy is faltering.

Klein’s closing verdict on Canada’s political class—federal and provincial—was blunt: too much performance, not enough governing.