OTTAWA (Realist English). Prime Minister Mark Carney has reached a landmark agreement with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to begin work on a new pipeline capable of carrying one million barrels of oil per day from the province’s northern oil sands to Canada’s west coast — a strategic move designed to reduce the country’s dependence on the US economy.
Announcing the Memorandum of Understanding in Calgary, Carney said the 1,100-km project would help transform Canada into an “energy superpower,” diversify export markets and reinforce economic stability after President Donald Trump’s trade war disrupted the North American market. Canada currently supplies roughly 60% of US oil imports, about 4mn barrels per day, most of it from Alberta’s bitumen-rich reserves.
The pipeline would significantly expand Canada’s ability to export crude to Asia and forms the core of Carney’s effort to recalibrate national energy strategy. Since taking office in April, the prime minister — once a global advocate of renewable finance — has strengthened ties with Alberta’s fossil fuel sector as part of a wider “grand bargain” responding to US tariffs and economic volatility.
The project, however, is likely to face protracted legal and political battles. Analysts say the federal government will need support from Indigenous nations and the British Columbia government to avoid years of court challenges. The agreement also hints at a possible adjustment of Canada’s ban on crude tankers along northern British Columbia’s coast, where the pipeline would end, though no details were disclosed.
Opposition from Indigenous groups has already emerged. Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative and Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, accused both provincial and federal leaders of bypassing consultation, warning that coastal communities “will never allow our waters to face the risk of a catastrophic spill.”
Under the deal, emissions linked to higher production would be offset through the Pathways Alliance carbon capture project in Alberta, valued at C$16.5bn. Alberta has also pledged a 75% methane reduction over the next decade, while Carney’s government confirmed it will not implement the emissions cap proposed under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Environmental organisations condemned the agreement, arguing it entrenches Canada deeper into a fossil-fuel-driven North American economy shaped by Trump-era trade policies. British Columbia Premier David Eby, a longstanding critic of a second west-coast pipeline, called his exclusion from negotiations “unacceptable.”
The new project comes as an expanded pipeline to Vancouver has already been shipping nearly 890,000 barrels per day to Asia since 2024.
