Alberta expected to announce 'exciting' proposal for southern route for new oil pipeline

Alberta expected to announce southern route for new oil pipeline to B.C. Coast. Construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline to southern B.C. in 2019 just west of Edmonton. December 3, 2019. Ed Kaiser/Postmedia Photo by Ed Kaiser /00089142A

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Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government announced Thursday it was keeping a ban on oil tankers on the northern B.C. coast, just as Alberta was about to launch its proposal for a new oil pipeline.

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That proposal is now expected to be for a southern route, although Alberta has pressed its preference for a northern route.

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Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith were set to deliver an update on the pipeline proposal Thursday evening.

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In a news conference on a different announcement earlier in the day, Smith was asked whether keeping the tanker ban in place, and with the Thursday announcement of expansion at the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank trade corridor in Delta, meant Alberta was backing off a northern route for a new pipeline to the B.C. Coast.

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Smith would only say to stay tuned for a later-in-the-day “pretty exciting” announcement.

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“Canada and Alberta have come to an agreement that is mutually satisfactory,” said Smith.

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Premier David Eby has secured a multi-billion-dollar agreement with Prime Minister Mark Carney for public services and infrastructure, and protecting the tanker ban on the northern coast. Photo by Government of British Columbia

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The infrastructure agreement announced by Carney and B.C. Premier David Eby Thursday morning in Vancouver includes billions of federal money for an electrical transmission line in northern B.C., a copper mine, the George Massey tunnel upgrade and expansion at the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank trade corridor.

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An aspect of Carney’s economic agenda includes the use of a major projects office established in the summer of 2025 to streamline approvals, unlock capital, advance Indigenous reconciliation and to boost Canada’s global export footprint away from reliance on the U.S.

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Smith and Carney set July 1 as the date the application for a one-million barrel pipeline would be ready to submit to the federal government’s major projects office.

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The July 1 deadline was put off until July 2.

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Smith has been strongly pushing for the pipeline to help diversify exports to Asian markets — and as a signal that Ottawa is responding to Alberta’s interests.

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Smith has not endorsed Alberta separating from Canada, but has put a question on a referendum this fall allowing voters to choose to remain a province or commence the legal process for a future binding separation vote.

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Eby has not been supportive of a new oil pipeline to the northwest B.C. coast, saying liquefied natural gas and critical mineral projects would put First Nations support at risk.

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Coastal First Nations celebrated the decision Thursday to keep in place an oil tanker ban.

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Coastal First Nations have been adamantly opposed to an oil pipeline and terminal on the northwest coast and said they had made that position clear to the provincial and federal governments.

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“Today is a good day,” said Marilyn Slett, President of the Coastal First Nations – Great Bear Initiative and elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation.