OTTAWA—The Alberta government is creating a new proposal to build a major pipeline to the northwest coast of British Columbia, reviving ambitions to export oil through the region and upping the ante in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “grand bargain” to trade reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the oilsands for the approval of new fossil fuel infrastructure.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith unveiled the plan on Wednesday, announcing her government will put up $14 million to lead a new pipeline pitch — with support from fossil fuel industry advisers and Indigenous business groups — and draft an application to fast-track the project under Ottawa’s special “nation-building” projects law by May 2026. The idea is for a pipeline that would carry one million barrels of oil per day from Edmonton to either Prince Rupert or Kitimat, B.C., with Alberta handing over construction of the project to an as-yet-uncertain private sector proponent if it is approved.
But obstacles remain for any such project, including the B.C. government’s vocal skepticism about the nascent proposal, questions about the route it would take, and the existence of a federal ban on significant oil tanker traffic along the north coast of the province.
Appearing in Calgary, Smith blamed federal climate regulations for forcing her government to carry the pipeline proposal forward. Claiming coastal provinces owe it to landlocked ones to help export their resources, Smith also urged Ottawa to repeal or change the tanker ban and other laws created when Justin Trudeau was prime minister, and which the fossil-fuel sector has long opposed.
“This is a test of whether Canada works as a country,” Smith said. She expressed hope for a “signal” from Carney that the pipeline could be added to the list of “nation-building” projects when more proposals are added, as promised, by mid-November.
In an emailed statement to the Star, federal Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson made clear Ottawa is open to the idea, but only on certain conditions. The federal government is having “an active and constructive dialogue with Alberta,” he said, adding that any new pipeline can only proceed if the Pathways Alliance carbon capture project gets built to reduce emissions from the oil and gas sector, Canada’s top sectoral source of greenhouse gas pollution, according to federal data.
Hodgson also stressed major projects listed under the federal law designed to approve them within two years must have “meaningful consultations” with Indigenous nations — which Alberta officials said is already starting this week — as well as other affected jurisdictions, and align with climate objectives.
“Once any proponent has done this work, the federal government is open to evaluating a project on its merits,” he said.
Earlier Wednesday, B.C. Premier David Eby was pouring cold water on the proposal. He called the federal tanker ban “foundational” to British Columbians and Indigenous nations “who value our coast,” and stressed there is no company in the private sector pitching construction of a new oil pipeline through the province.
“This proposal from the Alberta premier for taxpayers to do this work comes at the expense of real private sector projects that are going to lift our economy,” said Eby, whose NDP government has supported new natural gas export facilities from the B.C. north coast.
“Let’s focus on those shovel-ready projects with real proponents that don’t have to be funded by taxpayers,” he said.
Carney recently outlined a “grand bargain” that would see Ottawa approve a new oil pipeline if the $16.5-billion Pathways project to reduce emissions from the oilsands gets built. Regulations like the oil tanker ban could be changed in such an arrangement, Carney said, while the Star reported in June that the federal government was also open to dropping a planned emissions cap for the oil and gas sector if the Pathways project goes forward.
Carney and his environment minister, Julie Dabrusin, have since avoided questions about whether the Liberal government remains committed to Canada’s 2030 and 2035 emissions targets under the international Paris Agreement.
Smith told reporters Wednesday that she supports Carney’s description of the “grand bargain,” but argued the fossil-fuel industry needs significant regulatory changes so that a new pipeline — as well as the carbon capture project — can get built. “Both means both,” she said.
While the climate policy group Clean Prosperity applauded the plan as a possible piece of such a “grand bargain,” organizations like Environmental Defence decried it as a “farce” from a province “desperate to keep the idea of a new oil pipeline alive.”
In Ottawa, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre backed the Alberta plan, accusing the Liberal government of having “scared away” the private sector from building pipelines with climate laws and regulations.
Conservatives have long lamented the lack of an oil pipeline through northern B.C. For years, they have blamed the Liberal government that took office in Ottawa under Justin Trudeau in 2015 for blocking Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal.
That project was first approved when Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were in power, but a federal court struck down that approval in 2016, citing inadequate consultations with Indigenous nations. The Liberal government under Trudeau then announced it would not approve the project at the same time it greenlit the controversial expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from near Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C.
That pipeline sparked heated opposition from environmentalists and some Indigenous nations. Similarly, objections from Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs over a natural gas pipeline through the province provoked a national movement for Indigenous rights that saw weeks-long rail blockades in 2020.
