Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith meet with indigenous chiefs and energy workers before announcing the next steps to accelerate a proposed oil pipeline to the West Coast in Fort McMurray, Alta., on Oct. 1.Todd Korol/Reuters
Thursday was a good day for Alberta, a good day for Canada, and a good day for anyone who wants to ensure that this country cannot be held hostage to the whims of the United States.
On Thursday, the Carney government designated the new bitumen pipeline to the Pacific Coast – now carrying the moniker, Pacific Link – as being in the national interest under the Building Canada Act, the first megaproject to receive that designation. That means the pipeline will enjoy an expedited regulatory review process.
The Alberta government says construction could start as early as Sept. 1, 2027, once consultation with Indigenous communities is complete and necessary approvals are secured. The pipeline could be operating five years after that, some time in 2032.
It’s worth taking a moment to reflect on how far Ottawa, and the country, have travelled in the past 18 months. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals saw Alberta’s vast oil sands as a problem to be contained, rather than what they are: a resource that generates jobs, wealth and public revenue.
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That anti-petroleum attitude was pervasive. Pipelines were allowed to die (Northern Gateway) or suffocated through regulatory overreach (Energy East). Heavy handed regulations discouraged investment. And, of course, there was the talking point of a “just transition” away from fossil fuels. Investors got the message: get out, while you can. The damage to investor confidence still lingers.
Yes, the Trudeau government bought the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline, for an eventual cost of $34-billion. But that purchase was a political necessity, given the Liberals’ earlier moves against pipelines. It was not a favour to Alberta, and would not have been needed at all if the Trudeau government had not been so cavalier in its treatment of a core Canadian economic sector.
What a contrast, then, is the attitude – and, more pertinently, the actions – of the Liberals under Prime Minister Mark Carney. True, Mr. Carney was cautious in his early statements, offering heavily qualified support for a new pipeline.
Whether that was a deliberate effort to build the political case outside of Alberta, or an evolution in Mr. Carney’s thinking as Donald Trump continued his campaign of economic coercion doesn’t matter much. What does matter is that the Prime Minister has recognized that a pipeline to the Pacific is a vital part of any effort to reduce Canada’s dependence on exports to the United States. (And Alberta Premier Danielle Smith deserves no small share of credit for championing the pipeline.)
Mr. Trump has tried to wield that economic dependence as a political weapon, to bludgeon Canada into submission as an informal vassal, or as he obviously prefers, the 51st state. A new pipeline is a major step forward in making the Canadian economy less reliant on the U.S. export market.
The designation of Pacific Link also sends an invaluable message to Albertans as they decide on how to vote in an Oct. 19 referendum that could ultimately lead to the province seceding: Canada works. The announcement in Fort McMurray last week, in the heart of the oil sands, is a remarkable rebuttal to the doomsaying of Alberta separatists that Canada is a broken country.
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It’s not a perfect solution: the pipeline is largely a government-backed project, with Pembina Pipeline Corp. ending up with somewhere between a 10-per-cent and 20-per-cent interest. Indigenous communities will be able to buy at least 10 per cent of the pipeline, backed by loan guarantees from Alberta and Ottawa.
There remain significant issues to be overcome, without a doubt. The carbon sequestration project that is notionally paired with the pipeline cannot be allowed to wither away.
Consultation, and almost certainly some kind of accommodation, with Indigenous communities is still needed. On that front, the ability to buy into the pipeline is a welcome and welcoming first step. The Alberta and federal governments should exert every effort to listen to the concerns of Indigenous communities, and to adapt the pipeline plans when possible, and provide accommodation by other means when not. But the pipeline needs to proceed; the national interest demands it.
Much work remains to be done. But Thursday should be seen as a piece of history, a day that shows what determination can do, and a day that this country grew a little stronger.