List leaves out oil pipelines and focuses on LNG expansion, mines and nuclear power as it fends off US trade war
Canada’s Liberal government has said that a liquefied natural gas facility, critical mineral mines, a nuclear reactor and port expansion will mark the first wave of major national projects to “turbocharge” the country’s economy as it fends off a trade war with the United States.
Notably, the list unveiled by the prime minster, Mark Carney, on Thursday does not include any new oil pipelines – projects which have proven to be deeply divisive and politically fractious in recent years.
An expansion of LNG Canada’s Kitimat facility on the Pacific coast, which will effectively double the plant’s annual export capacity to 28m tonnes, is among the biggest supported by the Liberal government, which has pledged to invest heavily in – and speed-up permit for – projects deemed in the national interest.
“The path ahead will not always be easy, because what’s happening now in the global economy is not a transition – it is a rupture,” said Carney. “The United States is fundamentally and rapidly transforming all of its trading relationships, and the effects are both immediate and profound.”
