Can't they ever just get along, Justin Trudeau and Danielle Smith? Sometimes, yes!

In among all the pokey words Premier Danielle Smith flung at the prime minister (and his environment minister) after meeting with Justin Trudeau, one gentler term nudged its way into her rhetoric.

Gratitude.

That's right. From a premier from this western province to a PM with that surname. 

"I also expressed gratitude for the progress on the Trans Mountain pipeline," Smith told reporters in Edmonton, fresh off the road after her one-on-one with Trudeau down south in Calgary.

Trans Mountain is the project Trudeau has loved talking about as a symbol of his support for the petro-province, ever since the Liberal government purchased the beleaguered venture in 2018. Conservative Alberta premiers have been less quick to acknowledge the costly gesture amid their frustrations with Liberals on fossil fuel issues.

But in a matter of weeks, Alberta's westward pipeline capacity will triple, thanks to the $30 billion Trans Mountain expansion, and top Alberta and federal politicians will jointly appear at any ceremonial ribbon-cutting once the diluted bitumen starts flowing.

This grateful note from Smith was in a post-meeting press briefing far more heavily dominated by discussion of conflict points, most notably the carbon tax and Trudeau's refusal to heed a premier's wishes that he dump Steven Guilbeault as environment minister. 

Those were the headline-grabbing tensions during the pair's photo op before their Calgary sit-down — she cited that seven premiers now want a pause on the planned carbon tax hike to $80 per tonne in April, while he boasted of the increase to $1,800 for typical Alberta families from the newly rebranded Canada Carbon Rebate.

But those flashpoints only came after Smith mentioned a string of emissions-reducing industrial plants Ottawa and Alberta have collaborated on, to develop net-zero plastics and cement, as well as hydrogen.

Plus, that more likely emissions-increasing project:

"I'd also like to thank the prime minister for getting the Trans Mountain pipeline nearly to the finish line," Smith said as the cameras snapped. "It's going to be a major boost, not only for Alberta."

Trudeau gently smiled and nodded at the kudos.

In their separate news conferences after they met — 300 kilometres away from each other — they described their conversations as "constructive." It might be the most common term politicians employ to describe meetings, most notably when public perception points to other terms like "fraught."

The fraught stuff is all highly public, from dire warnings and lawsuits against assorted climate policies to the Sovereignty Act and accusing Guilbeault of "treachery."