Overview

• Prime Minister Mark Carney told the Calgary Herald at the Stampede that any new West Coast pipeline must come from private industry rather than a top-down government mandate.
• Bill C-5, passed in early June, streamlines approvals for projects of national interest and aims to reduce barriers to internal trade.
• Carney voiced federal support for a C$16.5 billion carbon capture system in Alberta’s oil sands as a complementary nation-building project.
• Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and industry groups have proposed pairing a 1 million-barrel-per-day pipeline to a northern British Columbia port with the carbon capture plan as a ‘grand bargain.’
• Existing export lines, including the expanded Trans Mountain system, are projected to hit full capacity before decade’s end, intensifying pressure for new infrastructure.