The Decibel - Why the Calgary Stampede is this summer’s biggest political event

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

The 113th Calgary Stampede is in full swing. But the 10-day festival wouldn’t be complete without the biggest names in Canadian politics and business walking the grounds in cowboy cosplay.Politicians are flipping pancakes, corporate parties are packed, and with Prime Minister Mark Carney pledging to make Canada an energy superpower, oil patch optimism is on full display. But tensions between Alberta’ and Ottawa persist, despite Carney announcing this week that a new Canadian oil pipeline proposal is highly likely.Emma Graney is the Globe’s energy reporter based in Calgary. She’ll tell us about all the politicking on the grounds, the energy deals getting made, and how separatist sentiment is playing out at this year’s Stampede.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail]

The Calgary Stampede is in full swing this week. You've got rodeo stars wrangling their cattle, farmers selling their produce, musicians putting on concerts, and crowds of people, apparently willingly, eating deeply questionable carnival food. And it wouldn't be the Stampede without Canada's top politicians and business leaders talking shop and striking deals in cowboy cosplay. It's always big for networking, but this year's Stampede has become a flashpoint for some of the biggest issues in Canadian politics. The unpopular Prime Minister is gone, and oil patch optimism is back. Prime Minister Mark Carney is promising to make Canada an energy superpower because

of the trade war. Alberta's premier, Danielle Smith, is pushing for a pipeline. And with ongoing separatist talk, she's looking to bring down barriers with other provinces, and if you can believe it, with Ottawa. Emma Graney is the Globe's energy reporter. She joins us today from Calgary, and she'll tell us about the deals we've seen so far, the ongoing tension between Alberta's ambitions and Ottawa's rules, and just how awkward it is when politicians have to flip pancakes together. I'm Adrian Lee, guest hosting the Decibel

from the Globe and Mail. Hey Emma, thanks for joining us. Of course, lovely to be here. So along with the rodeo, the concerts, and I'm sure you've seen all the weird food. The Calgary Stampede has become this major event for the political and business class in Canada. So can you give us a sense of why this became the spot to talk business and policy in Alberta

and what this all typically looks like? Yeah, absolutely. I think it's become that spot because so many people descend upon Calgary to go to the stampede. We're talking corporate folks, we're talking politicians. Anyone who wants to do business here is already doing business here, tends to just show up. And so you have these events all over the city, corporate events, where folks are just, you know, having beers and eating barbecue and talking pipelines or whatever it is that they happen to be doing.

And you can meet all of these people in the one place. So it's kind of like this really pressure cooker melting pot of all of the lobbyists, the political types, the business types, the corporate world, the hospitality world all just comes together in this 10-day stretch of complete and utter bananas fest in Calgary. I remember my first stampede. I came out here, I was living in Regina, Saskatchewan at the time and people were saying, Oh, yeah, the whole city dresses up as cowboys.

And I'm like, there is no way. There's no way that's true. People are pulling my leg. Lo and behold, I arrive in Calgary, it's an entire 10 days of cowboy cosplay. And it really is. Everyone's wearing hats, they're wearing their boots, they're wearing their jeans, they're wearing, you know,

a button-up Western shirt of some description. I didn't think it was real when I first came. Turns out I was very wrong. And one of the funniest parts of Stampede every year, when you go to the corporate events, which I often end up at, is it seems as though each year, there's some guy who's come out from Toronto,

and he's probably been told, he's probably been briefed, you know what, dress Western, just do it. But they don't believe it, and so they rock up in a suit and they just stand there looking really out of place. And that seems to happen at least once a year. And I'm sure they then, you know, rush off to the nearest Western store, get themselves jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat, and then feeling a lot more comfortable for the rest of their time here. But truly it is this celebration of kind of cowboy culture and fake cowboy culture as

well, I would say. Yeah. I mean, as someone from Toronto, I would definitely feel away about walking up in a big hat. But you're telling me that if I went there today, I'm good. I got to do it. 100%. And if you weren't wearing the big hat, see, that would be the problem.

And one of the things I really enjoy seeing at Stampede is, you know, we have those scooters that you have here, a lot of them in Calgary, and you'll see these businessmen dressed as cowboys just scooting around the city, going between event to event to lunch and to whatever they're doing. And it with their big cowboy hats on it really is something to behold. Yeah. Horses have become scooters in 2025. Of course, Alberta is also all about its energy industry, especially oil and gas, which is your reporting beat.

Is there a sense that heading to the Calgary Stampede and doing cowboy cosplay, as you say, it's just essentially kissing the boot in Alberta? Oh, yeah, 100%. And you've got to go into it understanding that everyone knows that they're not a cowboy. Everyone's very open to this. But you've just got to accept you'll feel a bit awkward. And you will feel awkward, especially the first time or two that you do it. Every year I feel a bit weird putting on, you know, it does feel a little bit weird,

but you've just got to do it because if you're not doing it, you're not embracing the true western values. And it was one thing that Alberta does not like, it's when someone comes in from Toronto and does not embrace our Western values. So Emma, can you set the scene about the cast of characters at this year's show? Who's there shaking hands and kissing baby back ribs? You know what, I think every Albertan politician is for sure here. We've got a municipal elections coming up as well. So everybody who's running for office is out there glad-handing, people running for Calgary

mayor out there just trying to you know put their name out there, their face out there. Actually Premier Danielle Smith said a couple of days ago it feels like Alberta is getting love-bombed. I think she's exactly right that is what it feels like. A lot of CEOs, you'll see a lot of C-suite folks out here as well. In terms of federal politicians, there are a lot of them too. So we've got interim NDP leader Don Davies was here. Elizabeth May was out here as well. And to meet with other Alberta Greens, Prime Minister Mark Carney, Pierre Polyaev, of course,

was here as well. And what's really interesting as well as a side note to this, because you've got all of these politicians, you've got all of these lobbyists too. So they're like moths to a flame at all of these events and they have really big corporate stampede parties. All the politicians go to them, all of the lobbyists go to them. And so you'll see a lot of that kind of activity as well. Not so much that they're trying to push their agenda at a stampede party, but at these parties

it's all about getting your name out there, getting your face recognized, maybe making like a quick 30 second pitch on something you really want to talk to the premier about, about nuclear, and then giving them your card or whatever the case may be. And then you can revisit it and say, yeah, we met at Stampede. And you know what? They weren't necessarily remember you. But that will be a very good way to kind of get your foot in the door when you're trying to make these kind of deals or when you're trying to talk to folks and politicians and that kind of thing in Alberta.

Yeah, it's always political at the Calgary Stampede, right? But this year sort of feels a little bit more. Yes, I do think it is more. I really do think that love bombed analogy that the premium made is is really bang on. Maybe part of it is that this was Mark Carney's first rodeo, as it were, sorry, as prime minister. So how is the stampede going for him? You know what, I mean, what's funny about Calgary's Stampede, Alberta is not exactly anything but a hotbed of conservatism. I mean, liberal leaders aren't beloved here in Calgary,

I would say. But when prime ministers go to the grounds, this happened for Carney, same thing happened with Trudeau as well, or go to events, they generally get a pretty warm welcome. I mean, you've got a lot of Canadians coming from all over the country, right, who aren't necessarily deeply involved or invested in politics. You've also got a lot of international tourists. And you know, if you put yourself in their shoes, like it's pretty cool to meet a prime minister of another country when you're on vacation. I mean that's kind of neat. Unfortunately for Prime Minister Mark Carney, his pancake flipping skills, they do leave something to be

desired. He was at a pancake breakfast and just to kind of give you some perspective here, there are these free pancake breakfasts all over the city. They're like community centers have them, businesses have them, of course, political parties have them. So he was at one of the breakfasts and he was ready to flip his pancake and do God's work there on the grill. And he flipped it and just absolutely destroyed

this first pancake. Batter went everywhere, splattered some people near him. That's not, I was better in Ottawa. Woo! I'm gonna do another one, I'm practicing. I got a little cocky. He was quite self-depreciating, he was like, okay, I'll try it again.

Second one went just as badly, so you know what? He was like, I'll eat these ones, I'll take responsibility for this terrible pancaking failure. So he's definitely got some work to do there, should he come back to Stampede. Yeah, I saw this video and I think I should say for listeners, in my head this was, you're flipping it from a pan, which in my head, that's hard actually. But really what we're talking about here is using a spatula on a flat grill. So pretty hard to do badly. And did Mark Carney have any other

run-ins with all the politicians that were in the space? Yeah, for sure. So, um, Carney and Premier Smith bumped into each other. I believe it was a Carpenter's Union event. Here you have a little work to do on your flip-on. I do. Well, look, there's video evidence. I'm not going to deny it. Should we do a flip-off? No, I don't think I'm going to. Daniel, it's all about comparative advantage. I love it.

And Smith talked a little bit about that on Monday, and she said, you know, she shared the frustration she's hearing from the energy sector with the Prime Minister. They had a quick little chat. It doesn't sound like it went very long. But actually actually at that pancake breakfast that I was telling you about, Pierre Poliev was there, but he waited in his car until Carney had gone before he got out and and actually came to the event. So it's an interesting time in in Alberta to see who talks with who. But generally speaking, folks will kind of get along. I mean, you're not starting punch ups at a corporate stampede event over pancakes, you know.

So as you said, there's a lot of political pageantry on display. People are dressing up and talking, but people are actually doing work at the stampede. Deals are actually being struck. So Emma, could you tell me what Ontario Premier Doug Ford was doing in Calgary this week? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he was flipping pancakes to the surprise of nobody. And he did a pretty good job, as far as I could tell. But yeah, he met with Premier Danielle Smith,

and they signed two memorandums of understanding. So there were a lot of Ontario cabinet ministers there for that announcement. And basically, these are agreements about connecting oil and gas pipelines and critical mineral projects. And that's what they were here to do. They sat in a little room in the McDougall Center in downtown Calgary.

They signed the MOUs. Oh, and they exchanged belt buckles, which of course is something you must do at Stampede. So that also happened. I'm not sure that was part of the official MOUs, but you never know. Yeah. Well, can you tell us a little more official MOUs, but you never know. Yeah. Well, can you tell us a little more in detail what those agreements did outline? Yeah, absolutely. So basically, Ontario and Alberta, they're intending to work together to build new oil

pipelines, rail lines, and other trade infrastructure between the provinces. So what we're basically looking at here is rail lines built using Ontario's steel to connect critical mining projects with processing facilities and Western Canadian ports to try and increase access to other markets so that Ontario can kind of build this end-to-end critical mineral supply chain. The other part is pipelines that would connect Western Canadian oil and gas to new and existing refineries in southern Ontario. There's this real focus in those Mo use on trade and expanding trade between the provinces, but also building economic corridors. That really seems to be

at the heart of it, given that the trade war that we're in, of course, with the United States right now. So they shared that news in a joint announcement on Monday. And of course, Doug Ford assigned these nonbinding agreements with several provinces. But it does feel like a little bit of pageantry, too, that they would sign this at Calgary Stampede when everyone's in town, right? Oh, of course. And I mean, that, of course, is all part of it, right? I mean, as part of the announcement, Premiers Ford and Smith, they kind of demanded that Ottawa remove policies that they say are really harming industry. So in Ontario's

case, of course, that's mining. Here in Alberta, it's more along the oil and gas front. And you know, Smith said, you know, Ottawa must answer our calls and remove all federal barriers that have harmed Canada's ability to grow the energy sector and other industries such as mining and manufacturing. And so they really made that a big part of their announcement to put the call out to Ottawa and say, oh, make it easier for us to build things, make it easier for us to develop our own sectors of revenue and basically build economic strength across Canada. We'll be right back. So Emma, there's a lot of business being talked about at the Calgary Stampede, and much of that is, as you say, related to pipelines.

And it feels like we're seeing a real vibe shift for the oil and gas industry in Canada. You know, it's been years of taking criticism for its high intensity carbon emission. And even Mark Carney, a liberal, has said that an oil pipeline is likely to be proposed as one of these projects of national interest that Ottawa would fast track. That's got to be pretty good news for folks at the stampede, right? Yeah. He said highly, highly likely, not just likely, but highly, highly. Absolutely. And Smith was asked about that during the signing of the MOU

on Monday. And she said, that's a really good message that we're getting. However, we're waiting for the rubber to hit the road. We need action, not just words. And we're waiting to see that list of projects. And really, what she wants to see and what Premier Ford and indeed Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe want to see as well is really expanded trade corridors that aren't just about pipelines, but also about getting goods to market.

So that's a big part of this as well. And one of their issues is federal barriers. Can you explain what she's talking about there? Absolutely. So Smith really wants Ottawa to scrap a number of things, actually. So first of all, there's the oil and gas emissions cap. So that limits how much a company or a project

can emit in terms of greenhouse gases. The oil tanker ban, so that's Bill C-48. And that prohibits oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of crude from kind of stopping, loading, unloading at ports kind of along BC's northern coast. So she wants to see the end of that as well. Also would like the federal government to scrap greenwashing legislation. So that was Bill C-59 and that prohibits false or misleading environmental claims made by

oil and gas companies and in fact, you know other companies as well in other industries And it really requires businesses to prove their environmental Claims and oil and gas companies really reacted against that bill and a lot of them just stripped their entire websites Even to this day when you go onto their websites, they'll little disclaimers saying according to this bill We can't be held legally culpable for any of this stuff on our website. So that's what a lot of this is about because all of those policies taken together, there's something that Premier Danielle Smith and indeed Scott Moe in Saskatchewan say are really harming industry and kind of strangling them and saying, well, they can't produce enough

now. You're making it harder for them to be able to produce their product. And they're kind of calling them production caps rather than emission caps, for example. And so taken together, they want all of those gone or at least revisited in some way. That little bit of language is interesting because it really does feel sometimes like the West and Ottawa are not even speaking the same language. And here they are saying way. That little bit of language is interesting because it really does feel sometimes like the West and Ottawa are not even speaking the same language and here they are saying the same thing but using different words to refer to them. Absolutely. It really does feel like that sometimes and sometimes you'll hear a similar message out of both but you know there's no way

they that either side would probably acknowledge it. I do think, though, it seems like there is a much more productive, friendly relationship between Alberta and Ottawa than there has been under Justin Trudeau, or there was under Justin Trudeau. The fact that Mark Carney comes to the job with a lot of business creds is something that gets noted a lot in energy circles here in Calgary. And also Premier Ford said that on Monday, like, we're going to give him the benefit of the doubt. He seems to want to get things done and we believe he does. So I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. And that does seem to be the general kind of vibe, I would say, when it comes to energy and

Ottawa right now. So this is what Alberta wants. Is there any sense that we could see Carney actually repeal some of those policies? Yeah, look, there hasn't really been commitments either way. And it remains to be seen really what Ottawa is going to do on that front, because a lot of what the federal government is aiming for is emissions reduction. And the idea of emissions cap is to reduce emissions. So you know, we'll have to see what they end up doing. But that's what Alberta wants. aiming for is emissions reduction. And the idea of emissions cap is to reduce emissions. So, you know, we'll have to see what they end up doing. But that's what Alberta wants. Who's to say whether or not Carney will actually listen and do it? Yeah. And now you talked about this

relationship between Mark Carney and Danielle Smith being more constructive compared to the one she had with Justin Trudeau. And obviously a lot has changed in the last year in Canadian politics. And now also conservative leader Pierre Polyev is running in a rural Alberta by-election to get back into the House of Commons after losing his seat in that election. And that's part of this too. So I guess I wonder if things continue going well between Danielle Smith and Mark Carney, what does that mean for the conservative leader? It is interesting because last year, Poliev enjoyed an extremely warm reception at Stampede, and that's back when, you know, conservative polling was flying high and he got a lot of love when he was here in Alberta at Calgary Stampede. And obviously things have changed an awful lot. And he still has to win that by-election

in Battle River Crowfoot next month. But certainly the relationship being less fraught between Smith and Carney just leaves, I would say, a little less opportunity to create tensions because that tension's already there. And it's not necessarily gonna be something to create tensions because that tension is already there. And it's not necessarily going to be something that's as easy for the Conservative Party to try and take advantage of if you've got a prime minister that is more willing to capitulate

to Alberta than say Justin Trudeau was or that his government was. So I think that's kind of where the difference will lie. And of course, there's this overlay of Western separatism being this bigger conversation right now in Alberta. So is this improved relationship, is what Mark Carney is saying, is that enough to quell those feelings? It's really hard to say, and it depends on who you talk to, because I would say hardcore Alberta separatists are probably never going to love anything that's coming out of a liberal government in Ottawa. But this is certainly something that Premier Smith has mentioned time and time again, that if Ottawa rolls

back some of those policies that Alberta says hurts the oil and gas industry, so we're talking about the emissions cap, the tanker ban, the greenwashing legislation that we spoke about earlier. If Alberta does that, then they're going to go a good way to kind of quelling some of that separatist sentiment, because then it will become apparent that Ottawa is actually listening to Alberta

and is actually taking its needs and its wants and listening to it. And I think that's where a lot of that separatist sentiment has come from. And so Smith says, if Ottawa gets up there and actually makes it clear that they're listening, makes it clear that they are going to do something about it, then you're going to see a real slide in the Alberta separatist kind of movement. And who knows, maybe that's true, maybe that will indeed happen. So that's basically though, we'll have to see what Ottawa does and how Albertans kind of react to that.

Mm-hmm. Emma, before I let you go, I have to ask, have you tried the Skittle hot dog yet? No, I was, you know what, I was on the grounds yesterday, but I was rushing to an event, but I am headed back to the grounds today. So I've been looking at some of those wacky food combinations and some of them kind of make me not feel great in my stomach. Some of them look incredible. So we'll see. We'll see what I come out with.

Yeah. Interesting times in Canadian politics and also maybe for Emma Stumick. Thanks for joining us, Emma. Thanks so much. Have a great day. That was Emma Graney, The Globe's energy reporter in Calgary. That's it for today. I'm Adrian Lee. The Decibel is produced by Madeleine White, Michal Stein, and Ali Graham. David Crosby edits the show. Adrian Chung is our senior producer, and Angela Pacenza is our

executive editor. Thanks for listening.