Ottawa’s internal draft names 32 potential infrastructure projects for fast-track consideration and includes a new oil pipeline from Alberta through northwest BC to the Pacific Coast, according to a government document circulated within Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada obtained by The Globe and Mail.
The list is framed under Bill C-5 (Building Canada Act), passed in June, which allows cabinet to designate projects “in the national interest” for accelerated approvals. Oversight will fall to a new Major Projects Office in Calgary, led by former Trans Mountain chief Dawn Farrell, with consultations required before decisions.
Ports figure prominently in the list: Contrecoeur (Port of Montreal), Churchill (Manitoba), and upgrades at Saint John and Belledune (New Brunswick), plus Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (Port of Vancouver) and a deep-water Arctic port with all-season roads to Yellowknife.
Energy projects total 14: LNG Canada Phase 2 (Kitimat), Ksi Lisims LNG (Nisga’a), North Coast Transmission Line, Vancouver harbour dredging to handle fully loaded oil tankers, and the Northwest Coast Oil Pipeline. In Alberta, the slate includes the Pathways Alliance carbon-capture hub. Northern candidates include Taltson Hydro Expansion (NWT) and the Iqaluit Hydroelectric Project (Nunavut). Ontario’s plan for small modular reactors at Darlington—recently estimated at $20.9 billion—is also listed. Eastern entries include Gull Island (part of the Quebec–Newfoundland and Labrador power partnership), Bay du Nord (Newfoundland), PEI–NB–NS transmission links, and offshore wind off Nova Scotia.
Mining accounts for eight projects: Teck Strategic Minerals Initiative and Red Chris Copper-Gold expansion (BC), Foran Mining’s McIlvenna Bay and NexGen Energy’s Rook I Uranium [rpkect(Saskatchewan), Minago Nickel (Manitoba), Crawford Nickel and the Ring of Fire (Ontario), and Strange Lake Torngat Metals rare earths (Quebec).
The document names specific companies including NexGen Energy’s (TSX: NXE) Rook I project, which the firm claims to be the only uranium company selected.
Transport proposals account for the rest: Mackenzie Valley Highway (NWT), twinning the Trans-Canada Highway, rehabilitating the New Westminster Rail Bridge (BC), the Alto High-Speed Rail (Toronto–Quebec City), and the Western economic corridor noted above.
Responding to questions, Minister Dominic LeBlanc’s office said the government has been working “with provinces, territories, industry, and Indigenous proponents to identify potential projects of national interest.”
The Major Projects Office has a complicated regional dynamics to consider. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has prioritized a west-bound oil line and says she is working with producers. BC has questioned the practicality and ruled out public funding, while Coastal First Nations have called on Ottawa to reject any new oil pipeline to the northwest coast.
The draft also places a Western trade and economic corridor in the “concept” phase and notes the Northwest Coast Oil Pipeline “could be pursued within an economic corridor” to link Canadian heavy crude to Asian markets.
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