Pacific Link Oil Pipeline Designated as Canada's First Project of National Interest

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Danielle Smith announced on Thursday that Alberta's proposed oil pipeline to the West Coast, now called Pacific Link, is Canada's first project of national interest under the Building Canada Act.

The designation gives Pacific Link a streamlined federal review, with Ottawa aiming to finalize conditions by September 1, 2027. The pipeline would carry around one million barrels of crude a day from Bruderheim, northeast of Edmonton, to a deepwater port near Delta, B.C., where oil would be loaded onto tankers for overseas markets.

The project's goal is to sell more Canadian oil to Asia and reduce dependence on the U.S. The pipeline would largely follow the existing Trans Mountain corridor, keeping it away from B.C.'s North Coast, where a federal tanker ban remains in place.