It’s quite a week in Canadian energy when a $4.6-billion announcement isn’t even the biggest news.
The federal government made two major announcements in two different provinces this week, alongside a multi-billion-dollar private-sector announcement.
🇨🇦 In Calgary, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith formally unveiled a proposed West Coast Pipeline. It would run roughly along the existing Trans Mountain corridor from northeast of Edmonton to just south of Vancouver. The pipeline would move more than one million barrels of Canadian oil a day to Asian markets. Alberta had a July 1 deadline under its energy agreement with Ottawa to submit the proposal to the federal Major Projects Office, so the announcement arrived this week ahead of the Calgary Stampede.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier of British Columbia David Eby stand outside on the balcony at the province’s Office of the Premier and Cabinet Office.
– Photo by Daniel Pereira, courtesy the Prime Minister’s Office
🇨🇦 In a separate deal signed the same day in Vancouver, Carney and BC Premier David Eby unveiled a nearly $20-billion Canada-BC Cooperative Prosperity Agreement. It includes federal funding for the North Coast Transmission Line, the George Massey Tunnel replacement, four LNG projects, more than $630 million for affordable childcare, and training for up to 100,000 new Red Seal trades workers nationally. The tanker ban on BC’s northern coast stays in place. On the pipeline, Eby said BC would not challenge the project in court, calling it “an area of federal responsibility under the law.”
🇨🇦 Also announced this week: Pembina Pipeline, Morgan Stanley, and Kineticor gave the go-ahead to a new $4.6-billion natural-gas power plant north of Edmonton that will supply a new AI data centre. It ties back to the November Canada-Alberta agreement that linked pipelines, data centres, and carbon capture.
Taken together, these announcements point to real opportunity for Canadians. New export capacity means new tax revenue and royalties that support healthcare, education, and other public services across the country. New infrastructure and energy generation mean jobs, from construction workers to skilled tradespeople to engineers.
CPW research shows this is what engaged women have been asking for. In our most recent national survey, 77 per cent of engaged women said they support expanding infrastructure beyond the U.S. to build true energy independence.
These announcements are encouraging. We’ll be watching to see how they unfold and how timelines work now that the agreements are announced. And we’ll unpack what all this means in the next edition of our Perspectives newsletter.
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