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Canada|Carney Unveils Western Canada Mega-Projects to Boost Asia Trade
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Canada took another step toward breaking its economic dependence on the United States on Thursday, as Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a slew of infrastructure projects in the country’s West to boost exports to Asia.
Key among the proposed projects is a new pipeline that would take oil from the landlocked province of Alberta to the southern coast of British Columbia near Vancouver, where tankers would transport it to Asian markets. Alberta currently sells nearly all of its oil to the United States.
Other major energy export plans include building up multiple liquefied natural gas terminals along the northern coast of British Columbia to triple the country’s L.N.G. production, and expanding the deep-sea port of Prince Rupert in the same region, which offers faster travel times for vessels heading to Asian destinations.
Mr. Carney also said that the Canadian government would expand the port of Vancouver, which is the main departure point for exports to Asia but has reached its capacity and would need to grow to carry additional goods.
The projects make up a multibillion-dollar strategy to help Canada ship large volumes of energy and other goods to Asian markets amid a breakdown in its economic relationship with the United States under President Trump.
“In a more dangerous and divided world, our strategy is to focus on what we can control, by building our strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad,” Mr. Carney said at an event in Vancouver on Thursday, adding that the initiatives would “unlock” 150 billion Canadian dollars ($105 billion) in new investments
Later Thursday, he traveled to Calgary, Alberta, to announce details of the new oil pipeline alongside the province’s premier, Danielle Smith.
Mr. Carney and Ms. Smith said the pipeline would run alongside an existing one known as TMX and move one million barrels of oil a day. Stakeholders in the new project would include the federal and provincial governments, Indigenous groups whose territories the pipeline runs through, and a private-sector company.
The announcements came a day after the U.S. administration said it would not renew the free-trade agreement it has with Canada and Mexico, putting North American trade, already disrupted by tariffs, in a new state of upheaval.
Since taking office last spring, Mr. Carney has traveled extensively to Asia and Europe, trying to line up export markets for Canada, with the goal of doubling the country’s exports to non-U.S. markets over the next decade.
The ambitious plans laid out on Thursday are politically potent in Canada, both for Mr. Carney and for the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, whose interests are often conflicting.
Mr. Carney has staked his leadership on generational, nation-building projects that will help Canada survive what he’s called a “rupture” precipitated by the Trump presidency. He is under pressure to start delivering on them as trade talks with the United States drag on.
Support for a major new oil pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast is seen as vital to keeping the province in the country amid a push for secession. Albertan separatists point to a lack of federal government support for more oil projects as evidence that the province cannot succeed within Canada and should break away to realize its potential. A vote to decide on whether to hold a referendum on secession will take place in mid-October.
The embrace of more oil development marks a major departure from the previous government led by Justin Trudeau, which had introduced measures curbing oil extraction on environmental grounds, angering Albertans.
But Mr. Carney’s approach does maintain some longstanding environmental protections, including, crucially, tight restrictions on the movement of tankers off the northern coast of British Columbia, a particularly sensitive issue in the region in part because of strong opposition to the large oil-carrying vessels by coastal Indigenous groups. Mr. Carney and Ms. Smith have also agreed that Alberta will oversee the construction of a major carbon-capture project.
The Conservative opposition party has repeatedly called out Mr. Carney for making big announcements but, more than a year in, having little to show for them.
On Thursday Mr. Carney listed a number of big projects but did not always elaborate on how much each will cost, who will pay for them, or when they will be ready, although he did commit federal government funding for some, including the expansion of the port of Vancouver and the Alberta pipeline.
Mr. Carney acknowledged that the pace of investment and infrastructure development in Canada was too slow to meet the country’s needs for jobs and growth, a complaint from the private sector, which points to cumbersome government regulations and bureaucracy.
“To seize these opportunities, Canada has to do things differently,” Mr. Carney said. “We need to move faster, build bigger, and work together,” he added.
Matina Stevis-Gridneff is the Canada bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the country.
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