November 28, 2025, 8:25 p.mNovember 28, 2025, 8:25 p.m
Premier Mark Carney.Image: keystone
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has signed a declaration of intent to build a 1,000 kilometer long oil pipeline to the Pacific – also to free his country from dependence on the USA, where most of the oil has been exported to date. The centerpiece of the agreement with the province of Alberta is that Ottawa supports the construction of the pipe, which will bring one million barrels of oil per day from Alberta to an export terminal on the west coast, as the CBC broadcaster reported. From there the oil is mainly shipped to Asia.
At the signing, Carney praised Canada as becoming stronger and more independent. However, environmentalists sharply criticized the project and a minister resigned in protest. Critics accuse the government of abandoning its climate protection goals and instead strengthening the oil industry.
According to a report in the Globe and Mail, Alberta’s Prime Minister Danielle Smith said with regard to the USA that the province and the country are no longer dependent on just one customer with the pipeline. Carney emphasized that the once close relations with the USA are now often a disadvantage.
Fear of environmental damage and escalating costs
Criticism also came from the government of Alberta’s neighboring Pacific province, British Columbia. Prime Minister David Eby criticized possible environmental damage and escalating costs as well as the lack of route planning for the pipeline.
The province of Alberta has huge oil reserves. Most of it in the Athabasca area is in the form of oil sands, a tar-like substance that looks similar to sticky asphalt. The product, which contains a lot of oil, is mined in surface mining and liquefied using a lot of energy.
Burning oil, gas and coal releases climate-damaging greenhouse gases that dangerously heat up the planet. The fatal consequences are more severe and frequent droughts, storms, forest fires and floods. There were also large wildfires in Canada in 2025. These lasted until the beginning of September and caused the second highest annual emissions since records began – only exceeded by the year 2023. Plumes of smoke traveled across the Atlantic to Western Europe in August. (sda/dpa)