New Pipeline, 2 LNG Terminals on Federal List as Advocates
Pitch Criteria for National Interest Projects
September 9, 2025 Mitchell Beer
https://www.theenergymix.com/new-pipeline-2-lng-terminals-on-federal-list-as-
advocates-pitch-criteria-for-national-interest-projects
With a draft major projects list in circulation that shows Canada backing a new oil
pipeline, two west coast liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, and harbour dredging to
accommodate fully-loaded oil tankers in Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet, a coalition of
environment, nature, and climate groups has sent Prime Minister Mark Carney a set of
seven criteria for any “national interest” projects his government approves.
The draft list, obtained and published last week by the Globe and Mail, “describes
potential projects based on proposals Ottawa has received from premiers and other
groups in recent months,” the Globe writes. “It is not meant to be a final list, and it does
not imply that any of the projects mentioned have been approved for inclusion, but it does
provide a sense of the options on the government’s radar.”
The 32 projects on the list include:
• The Northwest Coast Oil Pipeline, which officials describe as being in the “concept”
phase;
• Expanding the LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat and moving ahead with the Nisga’a
Nation’s Ksi Lisims LNG project;
• The Pathways Alliance carbon capture and storage hub in Alberta;
• The currently stalled Bay du Nord offshore oil and gas project in Newfoundland;
• Several port projects, including dredging in the Port of Vancouver and new port
infrastructure in Churchill, Manitoba and Montreal area;
• A small modular nuclear reactor at Ontario’s Darlington nuclear station;
• Two uranium mining projects in Saskatchewan;
• Mining in Ontario’s Ring of Fire;
• A 750-kilometre transmission line between Yukon and British Columbia, and a link
from Prince Edward Island to the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia grid;
• Offshore wind projects in Nova Scotia;
• A high-speed rail link from Quebec City to Toronto;
• A Western trade and economic corridor.
On the same day the Globe published details of the federal document, the coalition of
seven national organizations published its open letter to Carney. The missive from the
Canadian Environmental Law Association, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society,
the David Suzuki Foundation, East Coast Environmental Law, Ecojustice, Environmental
Defence Canada, and West Coast Environmental Law urged a set criteria for new
megaproject development, stressing that “only projects that check all seven boxes deserve
the green light.”
The groups called for projects that:
• Strengthen the country’s autonomy, resilience, security, and identity;
• Are economically viable and have a “high likelihood of successful execution”;
• Uphold Indigenous rights and advance reconciliation;
• Have included “early planning and collaboration” with First Peoples;
• Foster sustainability;
• Contribute to meeting the government’s environmental, climate, and human rights
obligations, rather than hindering those efforts;
• Do not produce fossil fuels or transport fossil fuels for export.
“Prime Minister Carney promised change,” Kimberly Shearon, acting executive director
of Ecojustice, said in the joint release. “Now it’s time to deliver. Canada needs an
economy that tackles the climate crisis and makes life more affordable—not one that
rubber-stamps fossil fuel megaprojects under the guise of nation-building.”