Canada Taps Oil Pipeline as First Project of National Interest Under New Building Rules

By Robb M. Stewart

OTTAWA--A planned oil pipeline to Canada's west coast is the first major project to earn national interest status under Prime Minister Mark Carney's efforts to accelerated approval for nation-building developments that will strengthen the country and pivot it away from a reliance on the U.S.

The official listing for the Pacific Link project kickstarts a process to clear the way to get shovels in the ground as the government looks to promote major developments that will bolster the economy and lessen Canada's dependence on trade with its southern neighbor.

"This is true nation-building. And it will take a nation to build it," Prime Minister Mark Carney said during a press conference in Fort McMurray, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta.

The pipeline would allow Canada to export an addition 1 million barrels of oil a day to Asia, which Carney said would materially reduce dependence on the U.S., which currently brings in about 90% of Alberta's oil. The province estimated earlier this year that the project would cost at least C$35.2 billion, about U.S. $24.7 billion and would be completed between 2032 and 2034.

"That means more customers, more choice and higher prices for Canadian energy producers, and greater long-term security of demand," Carney said.

The prime minister said the project is expected to create 140,000 jobs such as engineers, pipefitters and welders. It will generate more than C$20 billion in gross domestic product a year, and C$100 billion in government revenue by 2060.

Championed by Alberta's government, the pipeline is the first project to receive national interest designation since Ottawa last year passed the Building Canada Act in an effort to fast-track developments that promise to strengthen the country's resilience, security and autonomy. The act is part of the government's efforts to position Canada as a superpower in both conventional and clean energy and double exports to non-U.S. markets over a decade.

For projects that receive the designation, all federal approvals will be automatically granted at once, streamlining a process whereby a project would normally be assessed under various laws, which can mean consecutive and lengthy reviews.

Pacific Link will run from Alberta along a southern route to the coast of British Columbia to a new port. Carney said the federal government is investing C$10 billion to expand the Roberts Bank Terminal which will serve as the landing point for crude moving through Pacific Link.

Project development will be led by Trans Mountain, the state-owned company behind the country's only operating oil pipeline to the west coast, which has a capacity of about 890,000 barrels a day following an expansion that came online in 2024. Pembina Pipeline has agreed to join the construction as a private sector investor.

Indigenous communities in Canada will be offered an at least 10% ownership stake in the pipeline, financed by federal and Alberta guarantee programs, Carney said.

With the official designation, Ottawa will over the next year lead consultations on the framework for the pipeline, ranging from ownership, environmental protections, local hiring and oversight. The government's recently formed Major Projects Office will work to finalize those conditions by Sept. 1, 2027.

Companies that sign on to the project will over the coming year work on route mapping, ecological surveys, cost estimates, procurement, and workforce planning.

Carney said this is a new way of building in Canada, speeding up a process that used to take years and potentially billions of dollars on this work before knowing where the federal government stood on the project. For many builders it wasn't worth the risk, he said.

As a prerequisite for the pipeline, Carney's government has insisted on the building of a carbon capture and storage development that will use special absorption towers to capture carbon dioxide emissions before they enter the atmosphere and transport them deep underground. Carney said the Pathways project will itself create an additional 40,000 jobs and more than C$16 billion in GDP.

The designation for the pipeline comes days after Shell-led LNG Canada made the decision to go ahead with the expansion of its liquefied natural gas operations in British Columbia, which will double its production capacity and boost supplies to Asia and Europe. The decision will unlock C$33 billion of private sector investment, and add more than 4,000 direct jobs during construction, Carney said.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

This item was corrected at 2:53 p.m. ET to show that Alberta earlier this year estimated the oil pipeline project would cost at least 35.2 billion Canadian dollars. An earlier version misstated the amount as 35.2 Canadian dollars.

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October 01, 2026 12:59 ET (16:59 GMT)