Oil pipeline fight tests Canada’s global ambitions

As Canada seeks to break away economically from the United States, the country’s landlocked oil regions are seeking new customers in Asia via a pipeline to the Pacific Ocean. Not everyone agrees.

The oil-rich province of Alberta has a request from Prime Minister Mark Carney: Help us quickly build an oil pipeline.

This is no small task—in fact, some believe building pipelines in Canada will be nearly impossible due to laws aimed at tightening environmental protections. Over the past decade, three oil pipelines have died due to fierce opposition.

But Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is undeterred.

Her Conservative government has taken the unusual step of drafting its own proposal to build a pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia’s North Pacific coast, aiming to access Asian markets. Smith is still in the early stages and hopes that by doing the groundwork, a private company will eventually take over and build it.

Neighboring British Columbia, however, was firmly opposed. Premier David Eby of the left-leaning NDP dismissed Smith’s plan as “fiction” and “political,” arguing that no company would be willing to shoulder the burden. He also accused Smith of undermining the province’s ambitions to expand liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Asia.

Smith called him “un-Canadian.”

The battle between the western provinces comes at a critical time. Carney has expressed a desire to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade as Canada attempts to wean itself away from economic dependence on the United States amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

This includes positioning Canada as a global “energy superpower.” Currently, nearly all energy exports, including crude oil, go to the United States.

On Thursday, Carney unveiled new “nation-building projects” that he said are key to Canada’s economic growth. The list does not include pipelines but does include critical mines and liquefied natural gas projects in British Columbia.

With Canada possessing one of the world’s largest oil reserves, Carney now faces questions from Alberta about whether he can achieve his goals without first resolving internal differences.

“This is a long-standing problem,” said Heather Exner-Pirotte, director of natural resources, energy and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank in Calgary, Alta.

“Unfortunately, this seems to be a major wedge issue in Canadian politics, and trust me when I say no one in Alberta wants their oil to be a wedge issue in this country.”

Asked about the disagreement Thursday, Carney said the federal government and provinces “need to talk to each other.”

“We need to look at where we can work together and build things, and we need to acknowledge where we can’t work together.”

Separately, Carney also hinted that he would like to see another pipeline built: Keystone XL to the United States. Sources told the BBC that the Prime Minister made the proposal to revive the project during his last meeting with Trump in October. Before the U.S. president halted trade talks with Canada over anti-tariff ads.

For Ms. Exner-Pirot, the Keystone XL proposal could mean resigning without a resolution to the rift between B.C. and Alberta.

“At the end of the day, it still seems easier to negotiate a new pipeline with the United States than with British Columbia.”

Carney avoided siding with any one province but said he was open to the pipeline if Alberta also committed to developing its carbon capture and storage program. He said discussions were “going well.”

In a statement to the BBC, Smith’s office said they were “working to address” Governor Ibe’s concerns. But it said it hoped the Carney government would support their project.

“We must decide whether we want to function as one country and trade with each other, tear down internal trade barriers and stop blocking each other’s projects and opportunities to trade with the rest of the world,” Sam Blackett, a spokesman for Smith, said in an email.

The BBC contacted Premier Eby’s office for comment, which pointed to comments the B.C. premier made to reporters on Thursday.

“There’s no route, there’s no supporters, there’s no project,” he said, adding that he remains “frustrated by what seems to be an ongoing issue with Governor Smith.”

The divide between B.C. and Alberta is part of a long-running conflict that successive federal governments have struggled to quell.

British Columbia has historically been the birthplace of Canada’s environmental movement and the birthplace of Greenpeace, one of the world’s largest climate groups.

By far, Alberta’s main export is crude oil, and the province has long maintained that its oil and gas industry is vital to Canada’s economic growth.

“Alberta gets the lion’s share of the gains and benefits, while B.C. bears the lion’s share of the intergenerational risks.”

Enbridge has canceled the Alberta to British Columbia Northern Gateway pipeline project due to opposition from British Columbia. The plan was scrapped in 2016 after a court ruled that Aboriginal communities were not adequately consulted. Enbridge said it spent more than C$370 million ($263 million; £200 million) on the failed project.

Asked about Alberta’s new proposal, Enbridge spokesperson Gina Sutherland told the BBC that the federal government needed to improve its regulatory policies “before considering any new large-scale energy projects.”

Alberta says those policies, including a tanker ban off British Columbia’s coast that both Premier Ibe and B.C.’s First Nations leaders want to keep in place, are hindering energy development.

TransMountain (TMX), the only oil pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia, also faced strong opposition and was not completed until the federal government spent $4.5 billion to purchase the pipeline in 2018 to ensure its completion. The total project cost is C$35 billion.

It is estimated that TMX has since generated more than C$12.6 billion in oil revenue for Canada Report from Alberta Centraland has helped Non-U.S. crude oil exports increase sixfold in the last year.

October Angus Reid Institute poll shows that a majority of Canadians (59%) support the idea of ​​a second Alberta-British Columbia pipeline, including 56% of British Columbians.

But Indigenous sovereignty and the environment remain important factors – Canada has committed to halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. The country is witnessing firsthand the effects of climate change, including most recent string of Worst wildfire season Documented.

Keith Brooks, director of programs at the Canadian Environmental Protection Agency, said he believes any move to build a new pipeline would be met with strong opposition.

“We will loudly condemn it,” Mr Brooks said, anticipating legal challenges as well as protests from Aboriginal communities along the route.

He argued that oil pipelines would also take years to build and therefore would do little to address Canada’s immediate financial challenges.

“That’s not going to help us today,” he said.

An opposition appears to have formed.

“Our communities will not be held hostage for private profit,” said Chief Na’Moks of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in northwestern British Columbia, who was among a group of Indigenous leaders who gathered to protest the prime minister’s announcement Thursday.

“This is colonial violence disguised as ‘economic development’ and the world is watching.”