Carney announces second wave of nation-building projects, still no pipeline

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced the second wave of “nation-building” projects to be sent to the federal Major Project Office.

Source: Facebook (Mark Carney)

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced the second wave of “nation-building” projects to be sent to the federal Major Project Office.

These projects include the Ksi Lisims natural gas liquefaction facility and the BC Hydro North Coast Transmission Line, both located in northern B.C. Notably, this announcement still does not include a pipeline project.

The prime minister confirmed the Canada Infrastructure Bank will loan BC Hydro $140 million to complete the project.

“Each of these projects that we are referring to the MPO today is transformational, and their impacts will be amplified by being part of bigger national strategies to boost Canada’s competitiveness,” Carney said during the press conference in Terrace, B.C., on Thursday.

“We used to build in this country, and we are building this nation again.”

However, Texas-based Western LNG owns the Ksi Lisims project and currently plans to have it built in Korea, using Korean and Chinese steel.

Carney was asked how much taxpayer money Canadians should be prepared to invest in an American-owned and foreign-built project.

The prime minister responded that “there are structures that come with the project that ensure” there will be “returns to taxpayers through the tax system,” adding that the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline would be “First Nations owned.”

“The structure of the financing is a decision that we take with the full information, the full information of the project. The project design is with that,” he said. “So that’s part of…we answer that question with full information by doing the work, and that’s what the referral to the Major Projects Office facilitates.”

Additionally, Carney announced Ontario’s Crawford nickel project, New Brunswick’s Sisson mine and the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit Hydro Project.

The Liberals allocated more than $200 million of their latest federal budget for MPO operations and an additional $10 million for First Nations consultation.

Meanwhile, the Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla First Nations have ongoing legal challenges against the Ksi Lisims project, claiming it threatens their territorial waters.

A group of representatives from the Gitxsan, Gitanyow, and Wet’suwet’en Nations, and the Kispiox Valley Community Association have also pushed back on the prime minister’s announcement.

When asked how the government would deal with Indigenous pushback, given the Carney government has repeatedly said their participation and leadership is a requirement, he stressed that Thursday’s announcement “does not mean” these projects have been approved.

“It means all the efforts have been put in place from the federal government in order to create the conditions so that it could move forward,” said Carney. “There are many parties, and all those parties have to be taken into account.”

No oil pipeline was included in the second tranche of proposed projects. Carney said he would continue to speak with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who has been calling for the creation of a bitumen pipeline to get oil out to Asian markets for some time.

However, Carney provided no details or timeline regarding whether a pipeline would be greenlit in the future.