Pathways carbon capture: The architect just bailed

In a stunning reversal that's sent shockwaves through Alberta's energy sector, Martha Hall Findlay—the former Liberal MP and Suncor executive who's been the relentless champion of the Pathways Plus carbon capture project—has pivoted hard. On May 1, she published an op-ed in the Globe and Mail declaring that "now is not the time" for the $20-billion scheme she's been championing for five years.

The irony is sharp: Prime Minister Mark Carney just made a new oil pipeline to the West Coast conditional on a carbon capture hub in northern Alberta. Pathways was supposed to be that hub. Instead, its architect is now arguing Canada should step back from the entire carbon capture and storage model and focus on different climate strategies.

Hall Findlay's move isn't casual. She carries serious weight in energy and politics—her credibility was one of the project's biggest assets. The reversal raises hard questions about whether the economics of carbon capture have shifted, whether political pressure from climate advocates got to her, or whether she's spotted fatal flaws in the project's viability that the government hasn't publicly acknowledged yet.

For Edmonton and Alberta, this creates real uncertainty. The region was counting on Pathways to anchor a new industrial cluster and jobs. A cornerstone backer walking away doesn't kill the project outright—but it strips away momentum at a critical moment when the feds are trying to tie it to pipeline approval. Whether Carney's condition holds without Hall Findlay's push is now an open question.