Alberta premier praises first batch of national-interest projects

CALGARY – Energy industry players and Alberta’s premier say they see promising signs in the first batch of projects announced under Ottawa’s new fast-tracked approval process, but environmentalists warn the inclusion of liquefied natural gas locks Canada into a high-carbon future.

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday named the first five proposals to be referred to the new Major Projects Office based in Calgary, which aims to speed development of projects deemed in the national interest. 

“When I looked at the first five projects, I thought: ‘Finally — they get it,’ because it’s all the projects that have been difficult to build,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told reporters in Edmonton.

Topping the list is the second phase of LNG Canada in Kitimat, B.C., where natural gas piped from Alberta and Northeast B.C. is chilled into a liquid state and loaded onto specialized tankers for export to Asia. First cargoes from the project’s initial phase started making their way across the Pacific this summer. 

Proponents of developing more LNG say it would reduce Canada’s reliance on the U.S as a customer for its natural gas by enabling exports to Asia. 

“Building LNG export capacity and other oil and natural gas related projects are among of the fastest ways to diversify Canada’s global customer base and increase our economic and energy sovereignty in the face of international economic uncertainty,” said Lisa Baiton, president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. 

Proponents also tout LNG as a “transition fuel” for emerging economies as it emits less carbon dioxide when burned than coal. However, environmental groups dispute the green claims, pointing to emissions from producing the natural gas itself and methane leaks from wells and pipelines. 

“Nation building should secure Canada’s future, not tie us to the polluting past,” said Aly Hyder Ali, oil and gas program manager at Environmental Defence. 

“Expanding LNG in a climate crisis is a dangerous mistake.”

Greenpeace Canada said the Carney government is creating a “false narrative” about what constitutes a nation-building project. 

“Doubling down on LNG exports from a project that has faced fierce Indigenous opposition makes no sense at a time when wildfires are bringing home the cost of the climate crisis and key markets like China and Europe are turning to solar and wind rather than fossil fuels,” the group said. 

The industry says the buyers are there. The amount of gas being exported from the West Coast could be doubled without any new pipe being put in the ground by increasing pressure, said the chief executive of TC Energy, which built the Coastal Gas Link pipeline connecting Alberta and B.C. gas fields to Kitimat. 

“The inclusion of LNG Canada’s Phase 2 on the government’s nation-building projects list reflects the essential role energy infrastructure plays in Canada’s economic sovereignty and energy security,” François Poirier said in a news release. 

The project going ahead would help Canada’s international trade position, said Kent Fellows, an economist with the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. 

“It’s not a game changer, but with nation building infrastructure, I don’t think we should expect a one-silver-bullet answer to this,” he said. “It’s going to be a bunch of incremental projects and this seems like one of them — and an important one.”

Lance Mortlock, managing partner for industrials and energy at EY Canada, said he wasn’t surprised LNG Canada had such prominent billing on the project list, given the momentum the industry has been seeing recently. 

He said the move should make it easier for the partners in LNG Canada — Shell and four Asian companies — to give the green light to Phase 2. 

“Having federal support and approval is a tick in a box that helps in managing all the different stakeholders involved.” 

Carney also announced projects that may be added to the fast-track list after some further development, including what he called the “Pathways Plus” carbon capture and storage project proposed by Alberta’s biggest oilsands companies.

“We are going to accelerate work on Pathways. We see this as a potentially viable project,” he told a news conference. 

“That creates the opportunity for the ‘plus.” The ‘plus’ is potential pipelines to a variety of potential markets.”

Smith has touted the idea of linking the Pathways project to the approval of a yet-to-be-proposed oil pipeline to the northern B.C. coast as part of a “grand bargain” — a project that would stop oilsands emissions from entering the atmosphere by pumping them deep underground, while allowing another export outlet for Alberta crude. 

To date, no private companies have expressed interest in building a new West Coast pipeline. 

“While we would have liked to have seen pipeline projects identified on this first list of projects in the national interest, we also understand that more work needs to be done to attract proponents, and that process will take some time,” said CAPP’s Baiton. 

The Pathways partners have not made a final investment decision and federal and provincial support remains a question mark for the $16.5-billion project. 

“We are encouraged the federal government has recognized the importance of our proposed foundational carbon capture and storage project, and that future oil pipelines to international markets will help build Canada into an energy superpower,” said Pathways president Kendall Dilling. 

The initial major projects list also includes the Darlington nuclear project in Bowmanville, Ont. It would make Canada the first G7 country to have operating small modular reactors. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2025.