Globe and Mail article<\/a> reporting that unnamed federal sources say Ottawa is eyeing the southern route.<\/p>\nAlberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a memorandum of understanding in November, agreeing to work to lay the groundwork for a new oil pipeline from the oil sands to the B.C. coast, with conditions.<\/p>\n
The MOU commits Alberta to working toward implementing four major climate-related initiatives or agreements by April 1. The province has only achieved two of these: an impact assessment agreement and a methane reduction process update. Alberta missed the deadline to revamp carbon pricing and expand a carbon capture system.<\/p>\n
Alberta must submit a completed application for the pipeline project to the Major Projects Office by July 1.<\/p>\n
Smith has indicated a preference for the deepwater port of Prince Rupert, which is closer to Asian markets than Vancouver. According to the Prince Rupert Port Authority, Shanghai is 36 hours closer to Prince Rupert than Vancouver.<\/p>\n
But Eby has spoken out against that plan and complained about being left out of these discussions, while coastal First Nations have stated their firm opposition to ending the tanker ban.<\/p>\n
Dix panned the effort to establish a northern route again on Tuesday, saying it is not a \u201crealistic proposal\u201d to build a pipeline to the north coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not realistic because the tanker ban is in place for a good reason: for communities and for the economy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a good idea because there\u2019s no route.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a good idea because there has never been a route. It\u2019s not a good idea because there is very little support. It\u2019s not a good idea because no person would pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dix said B.C. has not been looped in on any discussions about a new southern route, but that he is open to discussions if the reports reflect a \u201cgenuine change\u201d in the federal government\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n
Still, he expressed doubt about the economic viability of a new southern route, arguing instead for optimizing the current pipeline.<\/p>\n
The recently completed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion was a $34-billion twinning of an established route. Its final cost far exceeded the initial $5.4 billion estimate.<\/p>\n
And it was only completed after the federal government stepped in to buy the project from Kinder Morgan Canada in 2018, due to cost overruns and delays. It began pumping oil in 2024. Billions of dollars more in federal support have flowed to the pipeline since it opened to keep it profitable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing in the pipeline business in general is that people don\u2019t want to pay excessive cost,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is set to begin dredging the Burrard Inlet\u2019s Second Narrows waterway later this year so larger oil tankers can access the pipeline terminal. This type of work could expand export capacity to accommodate optimization and would also be necessary for a new southern route.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"B.C. calls southern pipeline route a \u2018positive shift\u2019, remains wary Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, April 21, 2026 B.C.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-619996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}