Andrew Coyne: Essentially, both Mr. Carney and Ms. Smith have, in their different ways, made the same bet: that there are more votes to be gained in the middle ground than there are to be lost on the fringes.
Whatever pains the deal may cause for Mr. Carney in B.C. (where a majority is in support of the project) or Quebec (where Mr. Guilbeault is half as popular as Mr. Carney), or with the still-leaderless NDP, these must be set against the opportunity to steal the centre-right vote from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and possibly reinvent the Liberals in Western Canada…