Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday fast-tracked a proposed million-barrel-a-day oil pipeline to the Pacific Coast, a bid to reduce the country’s dependence on the United States and mend relations with oil-rich Alberta as separatists push for a referendum on leaving Canada. Carney, appearing with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Fort Mc Murray in the heart of Canada’s oil sands, designated the pipeline, now called Pacific Link, a project of national interest under legislation his government enacted to accelerate major infrastructure projects.
Alberta is holding a public vote on Oct. 19 on whether to hold a referendum on leaving Canada. Smith said she would vote to keep Alberta in Canada and called the roughly 22% support for separation in a recent poll “still too high for my liking.” “I don’t like the fact that that many of our fellow citizens have given up on Canada,” Smith said, adding that the pipeline was an example of how “cooperative federalism can work in action.”
“Today, 90% of Alberta’s oil goes to the United States,” Carney said. “Pacific Link will materially reduce that dependence by allowing Canada to export an additional 1 million barrels a day to growing markets in Asia.” The government said 90.1% of Canadian crude exports went to the U.S. last year, calling the country’s reliance on U.S.-bound infrastructure a “structural vulnerability.”
The proposed 1,250-kilometer pipeline would run from Bruderheim, northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, to a deepwater port near Delta, British Columbia. The project is expected to cost $25 billion to $31 billion and still faces major questions about financing and whether producers will commit to using it. Carney said proponents still have to settle engineering, costs, environmental conditions and other requirements before a final decision to proceed.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing