Canada’s Carney secures deal for pipeline to expand oil exports beyond US

Published 3 July 2026 · politics

Ottawa says future pipeline will reduce economic dependence on the US amid Donald Trump’s trade war. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has secured an investment

Ottawa says future pipeline will reduce economic dependence on the US amid Donald Trump’s trade war. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has secured an investment agreement with British Columbia to build a major oil pipeline, overcoming initial opposition from the westernmost province. The future pipeline is expected to carry 1 million barrels of oil a day – from the oil-rich province of Alberta, across the entirety of British Columbia, to the country’s west coast – allowing Canada new access to Asian markets and reducing its economic dependence on the United States. “It’s time to move to action,” Carney said at a news conference with Danielle Smith, the premier of conservative-leaning Alberta. “The best route for a new pipeline is one that goes through one that already exists, south through the Trans Mountain corridor, to our Pacific Coast, the gateway to the world’s fastest-growing markets,” Carney said. Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-US exports in the next decade and said a pipeline can reduce the price discount on current oil sales to US markets.

The pipeline would follow closely along a route already traversed by the Trans Mountain pipeline. It would run from Bruderheim, northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, to the southern British Columbia coast, delivering more than 1 million barrels per day to tankers and then to Asian markets. Smith said the Alberta government is partnering with the federally owned Trans Mountain Corporation and Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline on what it calls the West Coast oil pipeline. “The world is asking Canada to step up and provide stable, democratic and reliable energy supply that countries around the world are looking for,” Smith said. Smith wants Alberta to double oil production to 8 million bpd over the next 10 to 15 years. Smith has long complained that Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, hindered the province’s energy industry and fuelled separatist sentiment. Alberta is holding a public vote in the fall on whether to hold a referendum on leaving Canada.

British Columbia and some First Nations are against a pipeline through northern British Columbia. “The tanker ban will remain in place. We will be protecting the northern coast of British Columbia,” Carney said earlier in Vancouver. Carney also said on Thursday that he will compensate British Columbia for environmental risks if a pipeline is built in the southern part of the province. A previous memorandum of understanding between Ottawa and Alberta included an adjustment of an oil tanker ban off parts of the British Columbia coast, but British Columbia Premier David Eby also said on Thursday that he has secured a commitment to keep the northern tanker ban in place, protecting the province’s pristine northern coast. “It ensures that the northern tanker ban remains in place,” Eby said. Trudeau opposed a pipeline that could cross northern British Columbia and the Great Bear Rainforest. He approved one pipeline from Alberta to the British Columbia southern coast, the Trans Mountain pipeline, but rejected the Northern Gateway project amid opposition from environmentalists and Indigenous communities.