Ottawa faces deadline on whether to fast-track new West Coast pipeline

Thursday marks a critical milestone for a proposal to construct a new bitumen pipeline from Alberta to Canada's West Coast.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to join Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Fort McMurray at 9 a.m. MDT to "announce the next step to accelerate a major infrastructure project." 

A May agreement between the federal and Alberta governments set an Oct. 1 deadline to decide whether to designate the pipeline a project in the national interest under Bill C-5, the Building Canada Act — a status that could make it the first project to have its federal approvals and regulatory reviews accelerated under the new law.

On Tuesday, Carney was in Vancouver to announce $1.2 billion in ocean protection funding, where he touted the pipeline proposal.

"This project would diversify our economy, create almost 150,000 new jobs right across Canada and make us much less dependent on the United States," Carney said.

"The proposed route would follow a similar southern corridor to the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline, and the North Coast tanker ban will remain in effect.”

In July, the federal and Alberta governments revealed more details about the proposal, estimated to cost between $35.2 billion and $43.7 billion

The Alberta government and the federally owned Trans Mountain Corporation would each own 45 per cent of the pipeline, with the Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation owning a 10 per cent stake.

Alberta's proposed 1,250-kilometre route would see the line would run from Bruderheim, northeast of Edmonton, to the Roberts Bank terminal in Delta, B.C.

Alberta has projected the pipeline would carry more than one million barrels of bitumen per day for export to Asian markets.

The agreement is conditional on the construction of a carbon storage project called Pathways that would use a pipeline network to carry carbon emissions from several sites in northern Alberta to an underground storage hub.

Smith has said she hopes to see the project break ground in 2027.

The deadline comes less than three weeks before Alberta's Oct. 19 referendum, which could trigger a second, binding vote on whether the province should separate from Canada.

In July, the federal government committed to upholding its North Coast tanker ban while striking a separate multibillion-dollar agreement with B.C. that included funding for mining, forestry and upgrades to the Massey Tunnel and Port of Vancouver.

At the time, B.C. Premier David Eby — who is now locked in a tight provincial election race — said he recognized that the province does not have the constitutional authority to stop the pipeline.

"We will not be going to court to fight a pipeline project," he said.

However, if approved, the project could still face other hurdles.

Multiple First Nations groups have warned that fast-tracking the project risks violating governments' constitutional duty to consult with Indigenous peoples.

In August, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs called for the proposal to be halted, stating in a letter: "Consultation cannot be meaningful if First Nations are invited only to discuss how a predetermined project will proceed."

Environmental groups have also expressed stiff opposition to the project.

Some groups have warned increased tanker traffic would "devastate the local marine environment" and push B.C.'s threatened southern resident killer whale population "closer to extinction."

Others have said the project will put Canada's climate goals at risk and that carbon emissions from increased bitumen extraction would far exceed what the Pathways carbon capture project would keep out of the atmosphere.