A new million-barrel-per-day oilsands pipeline to the West Coast is the first to be deemed a project of national interest — a key step if the proposal is to advance. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced the designation in the oilsands hub of Fort McMurray, Alta., on Thursday.
Smith has been pushing for the new pipeline because it would enable Alberta producers to access lucrative Asian markets and spur production growth in the oilsands.
Here is a timeline detailing how an idea Smith first floated more than a year ago has moved closer to reality.
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June 11, 2025: Smith touts the notion of a new West Coast bitumen pipeline in a speech at the Global Energy Show in Calgary. She says the end point that makes the most sense is the port of Prince Rupert, B.C., on the northern coast, given its proximity to open water and short shipping distance to Asia. Smith says she’s been working to entice private-sector players to take on such a project.
Oct. 1, 2025: The Alberta government announces plans to submit an application for the new pipeline to the major projects office. The province puts up $14 million to support early planning work. No private-sector interest emerges, aside from major pipeline firms providing technical advice.
Nov. 27, 2025: Carney and Smith sign a memorandum of understanding covering a wide array of energy matters, including a path forward for a new West Coast oil pipeline. The accord makes Ottawa’s support for the pipeline conditional on the Pathways carbon storage project moving ahead to offset some of the emissions, and vice versa. It also rolls back environmental policies that industry had said hampered investment, and contemplates the removal of a ban on oil tanker loading along the northern coast.
July 2, 2026: Alberta formally submits its pipeline proposal to the major projects office — but with a southern, not northern, route. It would largely follow the path of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline from Bruderheim, Alta., to an export terminal in Delta, B.C. The preliminary price tag is estimated at a range of $35.2 billion to $43.7 billion.
It’s also revealed that the Alberta and federal governments would together initially own 90 per cent of the project — a further breakdown was not provided — and Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. owning the rest, with an option to increase its stake by another 10 per cent once the pipeline is up and running.
Crown corporation Trans Mountain Corp. is tapped to develop, build and operate the pipeline.
The northern coast tanker ban is maintained. British Columbia Premier David Eby says his province will not fight the project in court.
Oct. 1, 2026: Carney and Smith announce in Fort McMurray, Alta., that the pipeline is the first project to receive national-interest designation under the Building Canada Act, meaning it would be subject to a streamlined regulatory process shepherded by the major projects office.
They say the federal and provincial governments are to each own 45 per cent of the project, with Pembina holding the rest during construction. They also say a minimum 10 per cent equity stake will be offered to Indigenous communities, with Carney saying their investment would be financed by federal and provincial Indigenous loan guarantee programs. It wasn’t clear how the current ownership breakdown would be altered by an Indigenous stake.
The proposal is christened “Pacific Link.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2026.
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