MNI BRIEF: Carney Lays Out Faster Plan To Build Oil Pipeline

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday laid out a short list of conditions needed for resource projects to be fast-tracked into a two-year approval timeline, and said he's open to oil pipelines linking Alberta's landlocked heavy crude to overseas markets.

Projects will be deemed in the national interest if they provide "undeniable benefits to Canada," are likely to be built out by private industry, “drive Canada’s clean growth potential” and win support from indigenous leaders, Carney said. Executives in the past have complained mines take up to 15 years to develop or that rules were so burdensome under Justin Trudeau investors were abandoning a country with some of the world's largest oil and gas reserves.

“We can build big, build bold, build one Canadian economy,” Carney said in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where Premier Scott Moe turned from critic to praising the federal government's swiftness. 

So did Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who recently threatened a referendum on separating from Canada if projects continued to be held up. She called today's decision "a grand bargain" that should result in companies making bids to build again. Smith and Carney also both agreed companies should decarbonize future oil production. (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Alberta Pipeline Dream Hurt By Separation Talk)

There remains no answer to how the federal government will convince reluctant provinces like British Columbia or Quebec to accept a pipeline carrying Alberta energy, or any company is willing to build one.