The talk of the week will fall into two categories – climate change, and refugees, but for today, climate change is going to be the big topic of discussion, given Alberta unveiling their momentous climate change plans yesterday, followed by the First Ministers Meeting on the subject today. Alberta’s plan is ambitious and courageous – carbon pricing that matches BC’s by 2018, phasing out coal-fired electricity (the vast majority of the province’s grid) by 2030, absolute emissions caps on the oilsands that are a little higher than where they stand today – and lo and behold, the energy sector didn’t freak out, but rather embraced the changes (given that they’ve been demanding a price on carbon for years anyway). In fact, there was commentary that these kinds of changes may be necessary in order to allow them to grow (though if the idea is the gradual phase-out of fossil fuels entirely, I guess we’ll see how that goes). And with this new plan in place, Alberta premier Rachel Notley can come to that First Ministers meeting later today and have something to put on the table, which may indeed help to put pressure on other lagging provinces to start making changes they may be hesitating to do. Jason Markusoff has more on the Alberta plan, and the questions that it raises.

Good reads:

• Word has it that the refugee resettlements will be limited to women, children and families – not unaccompanied young men (raising the question of what happens to them).
• Military facilities in Kingston, Cornwall and Trois-Rivières are clearing space for refugees, while public service unions say they haven’t been consulted on the plans.
• Senator Jaffer returned from the refugee camps in Turkey and tells about what she saw.
• Following the Halifax Security Conference, Harjit Sajjan said that ending our bombing campaign makes little difference, but training has a long-term impact.
• With the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting later in the week, there is hope that Canada will return to a leadership position in the organization.
• Bill Morneau is preparing for a federal-provincial finance ministers meeting next month.
• Assisted dying groups say it will be unconscionable for the government to ask the Supreme Court to grant a delay in passing a law on the matter.
• The government is saying no to compensating Air Canada for the cost of putting air marshals on their planes.
• It’s looking increasingly like Irving had something to do with the “pause “ on the supply ship refurbishment.
• Doug Saunders writes about barriers to inclusion by immigrants and refugees, and how those barriers have radicalized a generation in places like Belgium.

Odds and ends:

Conservative campaigns were registered to make twice as many calls as all other parties combined during the last election, for all the good it did them.

Maclean’s has an infographic about Canada’s role in the Iraq/Syria mission to date.

Chrystia Freeland squared off with Bill Maher about refugees and Islam on Maher’s HBO show.