Carney shuts out Alberta, omits oil pipeline from nation-building projects list
Prime Minister Mark Carney is rolling out a second wave of “nation-building projects,” but a critical oil pipeline from Alberta has again been omitted.
By Quinn Patrick
Prime Minister Mark Carney is rolling out a second wave of “nation-building projects,” but a critical oil pipeline from Alberta has again been omitted.
An early leak of the projects the Liberals intend to fast-track did not include a proposed West Coast pipeline. This is despite Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pledging to seek U.S. investors if the federal government refuses to launch the project.
There is no oil pipeline among the six potential projects leaked to the media ahead of Carney’s official announcement in Prince Rupert, B.C.
Both CBC News and the Globe and Mail have been informed that the following projects will be announced tomorrow:
The Sisson Mine, for critical minerals, in New Brunswick.
The Crawford Nickel project in Ontario.
The Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas project in British Columbia.
An Iqaluit hydro project.
The Nouveau Monde Graphite Phase 2 project in Quebec.
The Sisson Mine, the Nouveau Monde Graphite mine and Crawford Nickel all focus on critical minerals.
According to sources, at least one of the remaining two will be a transmission project.
Carney’s decision to hold the press conference in Prince Rupert has led to speculation that the Indigenous-proposed Ksi Lisims natural gas liquefaction facility and marine terminal project will be announced. Ottawa greenlit the project to move to the approval and permit phase in September.
That pipeline, part of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project, is a joint venture between the Nisga’a Nation and Texas-based Western LNG. It may lead to natural gas exports to a proposed floating LNG export terminal off B.C.’s North Coast.
Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she is “still working” with the Carney government to establish a memorandum of understanding for a bitumen pipeline from her province to the northwest B.C. coastline to facilitate growing Asian market demand.
She also said she has been working with the federal government on the “pathways project” and hopes to get some of the “nine bad laws” removed to “allow that investment to occur.”
The “nine bad laws,” Smith mentioned, refers to a list of federal policies that have kept Alberta’s energy sector stagnant, including the oil and gas emissions cap, net-zero electricity regulations, the West Coast tanker ban and the impact of Bill C-69.
“I hope to have more to say next week, before the Grey Cup,” Smith told reporters last week.
When last asked about whether Canada was going to get a pipeline while in Toronto on Friday, Carney dismissed the subject as “boring.”
The Carney government announced the first wave of projects in September shortly after opening a Major Projects Office in Calgary with a mandate to “advance projects of national interest through the Building Canada Act.” The office is run by former TransMountain CEO Dawn Farrell.