Definitive approval for a new pipeline from Canada’s oil region in Alberta to the Pacific coast could come next year, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday, announcing progress on a signature project.
Carney launched that office after taking power last year, promising to cut the red tape and bureaucratic delays that the private sector had said made Canada a difficult place to invest. His support for a new pipeline has caused controversy, triggering furious reactions from environmental groups and the resignation of a cabinet member who had been among the leading climate advocates in Carney’s Liberal Party.
Speaking in Alberta’s oil hub of Fort McMurray, Carney said the proposed new pipeline, now dubbed Pacific Link, was the first initiative to be classified as being of “national interest” by his government’s Major Projects Office.
Carney said his Major Projects Office aims to finalize details for the pipeline by September 1 of next year. Because of environmental concerns as a major grievance, accusing former prime minister Justin Trudeau of stifling the provincial economy, separatist leaders have cited a lack of investment in the oil industry.
But Carney said Thursday that “a pipeline to the West Coast is part of our mission to transform our economy to double our non-US exports over the next decade. The project will create “hundreds of thousands of good jobs” and “unlock the full potential of Canada as a global energy superpower,” he said alongside Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
