The Alberta government plans to announce “a new project that aims to strengthen Canada’s energy infrastructure and drive future economic growth” at a news conference later today.
The scheduling of the announcement comes after months of talks between the federal government, provincial governments and private industry over major project proposals as Ottawa looks to boost infrastructure construction across the country.
In June, Premier Danielle Smith said the province is looking to entice a private-sector player to build a major crude oil pipeline to coastal waters, and that she expected a proposal to be brought forward within weeks.
“I feel like we’re pretty close to having either one or a consortium come forward,” Smith said at the time. “I would hope that that would happen very soon, because we need to send a signal to Albertans very soon and test the new process the prime minister is putting forward.”
No specific proposals were announced over the summer.
The federal government did announce in August, however, that its new Major Projects Office would be headquartered in Calgary and named Dawn Farrell, who served previously as board chair of the Trans Mountain Corporation, as its new CEO.
The new federal Major Projects Office HQ to be in Calgary
In September, Prime Minister Mark Carney identified five “nation-building” projects that the federal government aims to fast-track in an initial tranche, but an Alberta-based project was not among them and the list did not include an oil pipeline.
In a social media post on Wednesday morning, Smith’s chief of staff Rob Anderson wrote: “Today is going to be a GREAT DAY in Alberta that Albertans & Canadians 10 and 20 and 30 years from now will talk about fondly as a critical turning point for the province and country … stay tuned.”
More to come…
