As Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government prepares to announce the first projects of national interest it has selected, Radio-Canada has learned that no oil pipeline is on the list, according to three sources.
“There is no [oil] pipeline project on the table,” one of them said, despite the federal government’s promise to make Canada an “energy superpower.”
Carney has never ruled out the idea of supporting the construction of a new pipeline.
“We have to choose a few major projects, not necessarily pipelines, but maybe pipelines: we’ll see,” he said on the French-language TV show, Tout le monde en parle, during the election campaign.
The prime minister emphasized the importance of reaching a consensus with the provinces.
Behind the scenes, a Liberal source insisted that the absence of a pipeline on the initial list does not mean that one will never happen. Approval of a natural gas pipeline project is also not out of the question.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has consistently said she wants an oil pipeline among the first projects approved by Ottawa. She particularly dreams of a pipeline that would connect the oilsands to northern British Columbia.
Radio-Canada reported Smith and her federal counterpart discussed pipelines earlier this summer. Carney was clear: the involvement of a private developer was essential for a project to move forward.
So far, no company has expressed interest in financing or carrying out such a project.
Disappointment in Alberta
Smith’s office blames the current regulatory environment for hampering pipeline development.
The “emissions cap for the oil and gas sector” and the “tanker moratorium” off the northern coast of British Columbia are examples cited by the Alberta government in a written statement sent to Radio-Canada.
“Until these policies are changed, modified, or reversed, we will not attract the capital to keep our energy industry competitive and growing globally,” it reads.
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The Alberta premier says she wants to wait for the official announcement of the list before commenting on it.
But last May, just after the federal election, Smith sent a letter to Carney in which she issued an unequivocal warning. “The absence of a pipeline on the initial list will perpetuate the current investment uncertainty and send a sobering signal to Albertans concerned about Ottawa’s commitment to national unity,” she wrote.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, greets Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, in July. Radio-Canada reported that Carney told Smith over the summer that a private company needed to come forward to have a pipeline project approved. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
Smith and Carney are scheduled to meet again Wednesday on the sidelines of the Liberal caucus meeting in Edmonton.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said he spoke with Smith Wednesday morning and that his government works “very well with Alberta.”
“We always said that this would be evolving,” he said.
“What we need is projects of strategic national interest for the country, we need to rebuild this country … that’s what the project of national interest are all about.”
The finance minister said the government will have more to say about projects that will be declared in the national interest.
Reassuring the progressive wing?
The absence of a pipeline project in the first wave of announcements could reassure the Liberal Party’s progressive wing, which would like Carney to put more emphasis on climate issues.
On Friday, Radio-Canada revealed that some Liberal MPs plan to form an environmental caucus. The initiative aims to create a forum for discussion around climate issues among Liberal MPs.
Carney’s first act after his election was to abolish carbon pricing for consumers, a flagship policy of his predecessor Justin Trudeau. Last June, his government passed Bill C-5 to streamline the environmental assessment process for major national projects and accelerate their construction. Last Friday, it suspended minimum sales thresholds for zero-emission vehicles.
Trans Mountain is the last oil pipeline project to be completed in Canada. Trudeau’s government acquired it from Kinder Morgan in 2018, after the company suspended work due to political uncertainty and opposition from the government of British Columbia.
Acquired for $4.7 billion, the pipeline’s expansion costs have exploded. According to data compiled by the Parliamentary Budget Officer in 2024, Ottawa spent more than $34 billion to complete the project, compared to the initial estimate of $21 billion.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a social media post that failing to put a pipeline on the list of national projects will force Canada to keep selling oil to the U.S. at a discount.
Carney “will keep Trudeau’s shipping ban, production cap, industrial carbon tax that drove hundreds of billions of investment to the U.S. at Canada’s expense,” Poilievre said. “The champagne will be pouring at the Trump Tower when they get the news.”
In his speech to the Liberal caucus Wednesday, Carney suggested the infrastructure and natural resource projects of national interest to be announced on Thursday will only be the first tranche of projects approved by his government.