Environmental groups and coastal First Nations say a major economic agreement announced this week between British Columbia and the federal government protects the North Coast tanker ban, but leaves new concerns about a possible southern oil pipeline route.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and B.C. Premier David Eby unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal Thursday that included a promise to preserve the federal oil-tanker ban off B.C.’s north coast.
It was announced hours before Alberta Premier Danielle Smith unveiled details of her plans for a new west coast oil pipeline through a joint venture with Ottawa, Trans Mountain and Pembina Pipeline.
Her application to the federal Major Projects Office calls for a southern route to the coast, along the existing Trans Mountain pipeline corridor.
She said the pipeline could transport more than one million barrels of oil per day to B.C.’s west coast, for export to Asian markets.
B.C.’s agreement with the federal government said that while B.C. does not seek a new pipeline, it would participate in necessary routing and permitting discussions, as long as Ottawa maintains the tanker ban and engages meaningfully with First Nations.
The deal said Canada would also renew investments into coastal spill response, and recognizes the need to protect whale habitats off the B.C. coast.
If the pipeline project goes ahead, Ottawa and B.C. would discuss setting up an environmental liability and emergency response fund for B.C. and First Nations.
The Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative, an alliance of several First Nations on the north Pacific coast, celebrated Carney’s commitment not to change the oil tanker ban.
“British Columbians, Canadians and the First Nations who call this place home want this region to remain protected,” said a statement from Marilyn Slett, the group’s president and elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation.
“There is no technology that can clean up an oil spill at sea, and a single oil spill could destroy our way of life. We remain steadfast in our position that oil tankers will never be part of our vision for a healthy, productive and sustainable North Coast,” said Slett.
Flossie Baker, lead organizer with Sierra Club B.C., said she had mixed emotions after Thursday’s announcements.
“On the one hand, I’m feeling hugely relieved and grateful that the tanker ban on the north coast remains in place,” she said. “At the same time, it feels bittersweet because the threat of an oil spill hasn’t disappeared, it’s just shifted.”
Baker said an increase in oil tankers travelling through the Salish Sea on the south coast of B.C. would put pressure on populations of endangered Southern Resident orcas.
The Southern Residents are a genetically unique population of orcas whose habitat includes southern B.C. coastal waters. Parks Canada says there were only 73 remaining individuals as of January 2025.
“I know that the energy that was galvanized to stop the tanker ban from being lifted is now just going to pivot towards trying to stop the southern route and protect the orcas,” said Baker.
The B.C. Green party noted Carney and Eby provided little detail on the scale and scope of its promised clean energy investments.
Green leader Emily Lowan called it a wasted opportunity to invest in renewable energy.
“Carney, Smith and Eby are performing a choreographed struggle where the winners were always going to be foreign fossil fuel companies,” said Lowan in a statement.
“B.C. could be leading the country in manufacturing electrified trains and buses, creating revolutionary technology like heat pumps and a clean grid, investing in a care economy — that is the economy British Columbians deserve and what the BC Greens support,” she said.
Eby said Friday he shares concerns about the environmental impact of a new pipeline.
“We are concerned about this pipeline project, and we also recognize the restricted world that we live in, in provincial jurisdiction,” said Eby.
He said a goal of B.C.’s agreement with Ottawa was to get as many environmental protections as possible around the proposed pipeline project.
Eby pointed to a section of the agreement that commits B.C. and Canada to working with other provinces and territories on developing a national carbon credit framework. The plan would include the use of credits generated through consumer sustainability choices, such as retrofits and electric vehicles.
“This agreement puts in black and white specific commitments around the environment and climate that we would not have otherwise had the opportunity to get,” said Eby.
Alberta, Canada and the Oil Sands Alliance, made up of five major oil sands companies, also agreed to advance construction of the Pathways carbon capture and storage project.
The federal government said, alongside other initiatives, it would achieve 16 million tonnes of emissions reductions per year.
“Pathways would make Alberta bitumen among the lowest-emission heavy oil globally,” said Smith.
Baker said she doesn’t find that argument compelling.
“I see this as a Hail Mary to try and make a fundamentally climate-wrecking project appear climate friendly,” Baker said.
Thursday’s announcements came two days after Carney said changes to his government’s energy strategy would mean Canada’s emissions will be higher in the next few years than projected under the previous government’s climate plan.
“In my judgement, that plan was not sustainable over the long term,” said Carney, in a video message posted on YouTube on June 30.
