Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Ottawa will fast-track the Pacific Link oil pipeline, designating the multibillion-dollar project as being of national interest in a bid to slash Canada’s near-total dependence on the United States as a buyer of its crude.
Unveiling the plan Thursday in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Carney said the 1,250-kilometre pipeline — running from Alberta’s oil sands to the British Columbia coast — would move one million barrels per day and be built by the government-owned Trans Mountain Corporation in partnership with Pembina. The project is expected to cost between C$35 billion and C$44 billion, create 140,000 jobs, and generate more than C$20 billion in annual GDP, alongside C$100 billion in government revenue by 2060.
The pipeline would be jointly owned by the federal government and Alberta, with Indigenous communities offered a minimum 10 per cent ownership stake. A single streamlined federal review is targeted for completion by September 1, 2027.
The announcement is the centrepiece of Carney’s push to double Canada’s non-US exports over the next decade, after US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the collapse of Canada-US trade talks in August exposed the risks of sending more than 90 per cent of Canadian crude exports south of the border. Asian buyers searching for non-Middle Eastern supply amid the Iran conflict are seen as eager future customers.
The timing is politically charged: Alberta votes October 19 on whether to hold a separation referendum, and energy politics sit at the heart of that debate. Carney framed the pipeline as nation-building infrastructure — critics will watch closely whether the fast-tracked timeline survives environmental reviews and Indigenous consultation.
Sources: Reuters, Al Jazeera, BusinessMirror.