Canada Minute: Issue 92

Canada Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Canadian politics.

📅 This Week In Canada: 📅

• Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on October 1st that the federal government has listed a proposed West Coast oil pipeline, now called Pacific Link, as a project of national interest under the Building Canada Act, putting it through a fast-tracked regulatory process. The project, submitted by the Government of Alberta, would run 1,200 kilometers from Bruderheim, Alberta, to a proposed large-tanker port at Roberts Bank, British Columbia. The Major Projects Office will begin its review in early 2027, with public hearings held by the Canada Energy Regulator, and the aim is to have the pipeline operational by 2032-2033. The total cost of financing the project is estimated at $35.2 billion - $43.7 billion, and the pipeline is so far backed by Alberta and the federal government, though financing details have not been made public. Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline has agreed to take a 10% stake, but officials confirmed it has put no money toward the early regulatory stages, estimated at $4 billion, which the two governments will cover through Trans Mountain Corporation and the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission. The government claims the pipeline would carry an additional one million barrels a day of exports and generate $100 billion in government revenue by 2060, while officials acknowledged it will probably face court challenges.
  
  
• The federal government has welcomed LNG Canada's final investment decision to expand its export terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia, which the federal government claims will unlock $33 billion in private investment. The second phase, approved by the terminal's private owners on September 29th, will double its annual production capacity from 14 million to 28 million tonnes by adding two processing units, another storage tank, and an additional loading berth. The federal government describes it as the second-largest single private investment in Canadian history, and Carney said it is "what an energy superpower looks like when it decides to act like one". The Carney government referred the expansion to the federal Major Projects Office in September 2025, and the office has since coordinated federal processes with the provincial government and industry. LNG Canada expects up to 4,000 construction jobs at peak and about 90 full-time and 150 contractor positions once the expansion is complete. Five nearby First Nations have an option to invest up to $1 billion for a majority stake in the new storage tank, which would be leased back to the project. The decision also clears the way for a multibillion-dollar expansion of the Coastal GasLink pipeline's capacity, with construction expected to begin in early 2027.
  
  
• Quebecers head to the polls today in a closely contested election that could dramatically change the province’s political landscape. The Parti Québécois and leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon appear to have gained momentum late in the campaign, with the party seeking a majority government after winning just three seats in 2022. St-Pierre Plamondon has promised to hold a sovereignty referendum within four years if elected, although polls indicate most Quebecers currently oppose separation. The CAQ has lost support in recent days, while the Conservatives and Liberals look set for gains, and Québec Solidaire continues to struggle. Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime has campaigned on tax cuts and reducing government spending, while promising to use a potential balance-of-power position to prevent a PQ referendum. Liberal Leader Pablo Rodriguez has positioned his party as the strongest federalist alternative, while the CAQ has focused on defending Quebec businesses amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States.
  
  
• The federal government has closed all of its GCcoworking sites, the shared workspaces that let public servants from more than 50 departments work without heading to their own offices. As of September 30th, every site across the country is closed, and their 266 workstations have been handed to federal departments to meet their space needs. Public Services and Procurement Canada says the former sites in Ottawa and Gatineau will go to the Department of National Defence, Employment and Social Development Canada, and Public Services and Procurement Canada itself. The move is meant to support the mandate requiring public servants to work in the office four days a week. Documents tabled in the House of Commons show federal departments and agencies will spend more than $18 million to reconfigure or acquire office space for the mandate. About 10% of federal public servants cannot be accommodated in the office four days a week this fall because of a shortage of space, and the government hopes to accommodate 95% of them by March 31st, 2027. Global Affairs Canada, Statistics Canada, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada have all delayed the mandate for lack of office space.
  
  
• The Fraser Institute has released a study finding that inflation-adjusted federal Indigenous spending rose from $10.3 billion to $40.8 billion in the decade leading up to 2024/25, growing seven times faster than overall federal spending. The study, released on September 29th, found that this spending grew by an average of 17.1% a year from 2014/15 to 2024/25, compared with 4.3% a year from 1969/70 to 2014/15, not counting spending on lawsuits and court settlements. Annual federal Indigenous spending now ranges from $73 million in Prince Edward Island to $8.8 billion in Ontario. Yet the gap in Statistics Canada's Community Well-Being index between First Nations communities and other Canadian communities barely moved, from 19.5 points in 1981 to 19.1 points in 2016. The gap narrowed to 16.3 points in 2021, but the authors attribute that improvement to the Canada Child Benefit, a general family support measure, rather than to Indigenous program spending. Co-author Tom Flanagan, a senior fellow at the Institute, argues that Canadians need to understand the magnitude of the spending to assess what it is achieving for Indigenous people. A 2025 follow-up by the Auditor General similarly found that Indigenous Services Canada had made "unsatisfactory progress" on earlier audit recommendations despite an 84% increase in its program spending since 2019-20.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

The proposed Pacific Link pipeline would be one of the largest energy infrastructure projects in Canadian history, creating a new route for Alberta oil to reach international markets while potentially generating billions in additional provincial royalties. With the federal government expected to cover billions in initial costs before private investment is secured, there are also important questions about the project's cost, risks, and potential return for taxpayers.

Do you support moving ahead with Pacific Link?

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