Prime Minister Mark Carney today announced from Edmonton the first series of projects being referred to the newly-created Major Projects Office for consideration, including federal support for the Port of Montreal’s $1.5 billion Contrecoeur container terminal project and expanding LNG production in British Columbia.
The MPO will help to identify projects that are in Canada’s national interest and accelerate their development, including by creating a single set of conditions – reducing the approval timeline for projects of national interest to a maximum of two years and working with provinces and territories to achieve a “one project, one review” approach.
The government statement stressed: “Today’s announcement will help protect Canada’s economic sovereignty, empower Canadian workers and businesses, and build the strongest economy in the G7. We will build One Canadian Economy turbo-charged by major nation-building projects that connect our regions, diversify our products and markets, and create hundreds of thousands of high-paying careers for our workers from the trades to technology, all while protecting the environment and upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Additional projects will be announced in the coming weeks.”
The five projects
- LNG Canada Phase 2, Kitimat, British Columbia: This project will double LNG Canada’s production of liquefied natural gas, making it the second-largest facility of its kind in the world. It is expected to attract significant private-sector capital to Canada, contribute to our GDP growth, and support jobs and economic growth in local communities. It will diversify our trading partners and meet increasing global demand for secure, low-carbon energy with Canadian LNG, contributing to worldwide energy security by increasing the supply of available natural gas for Asian and European partners. Leveraging Canada’s sustainable advantage, emissions are projected to be 35% lower than the world’s best-performing LNG facilities and 60% lower than the global average.
- Darlington New Nuclear Project, Bowmanville, Ontario: This project will make Canada the first G7 country to have an operational small modular reactor (SMR), accelerating the commercialization of a key technology that could support Canadian and global clean energy needs while driving $500 million annually into Ontario’s nuclear supply chain. Once complete, Darlington’s first of four planned SMR units will provide reliable, affordable, clean power to 300,000 homes, while sustaining 3,700 jobs annually, including 18,000 during construction, over the next 65 years. The project has the potential to position Canada as a global leader in the deployment of SMR technology for use across the country and worldwide.
- Contrecœur Terminal Container Project, Contrecœur, Québec: This project will expand the Port of Montréal’s capacity by approximately 60%, to give Eastern Canada the trading infrastructure it needs to keep goods moving, meet growing demand, and diversify trade routes. It will strengthen supply chains, create thousands of jobs, and generate approximately $140 million annually in local and national economic benefits across Québec and Canada.
- McIlvenna Bay Foran Copper Mine Project, East-Central Saskatchewan: Situated in one of Canada’s richest mineral belts and working in close collaboration with the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, this project will supply copper and zinc to strengthen Canada’s position as a global supplier of critical minerals for clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and modern infrastructure. It will create 400 jobs, boost local economies in Saskatchewan and Quebec, where the copper will be smelted, and is expected to be the first net-zero copper project in Canada.
- Red Chris Mine expansion, Northwest British Columbia: This major expansion project will extend the lifespan of the mine by over a decade, increase Canada’s annual copper production by over 15%, employ about 800 workers during operations, with a peak of approximately 1,500 workers during construction, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 70% when operational. Working in close collaboration with the Tahltan Nation, it is an important step in reconciliation and further developing the potential of Northern British Columbia and will strengthen Canada’s role as a reliable supplier of copper and other resources essential for global manufacturing and clean energy technologies. This mine is part of the proposed Northwest Critical Conservation Corridor. This corridor is being moved to the MPO for consideration, as it presents opportunities for critical minerals development, clean power transmission, Indigenous project leadership, and a potential new conservation area the size of Greece.
Together, these projects represent investments of more than $60 billion in our economy and will create thousands of well-paying jobs for Canadians. Details on the projects are available on the MPO website.
In addition to the five projects announced today, Canada’s new government also believes that there are several strategies for projects that could be truly transformative for this country, which are at an earlier stage and require further development:
- Critical Minerals Strategy: Canada can be a powerhouse in the extraction and upgrading of critical minerals. A priority for the MPO will be to help more critical minerals projects get to final investment decisions within a two-year window. This will ensure that our critical minerals industry can grow and that Canada and our global partners can benefit from our value chains for clean technologies and defence. These opportunities exist in many of Canada’s regions – including Ontario’s Ring of Fire.
- Wind West Atlantic Energy: A project that will leverage over 60 GW of wind power potential in Nova Scotia, and more across Atlantic Canada, connecting that renewable, emissions-free energy to Eastern and Atlantic Canada to meet rapidly growing demand – with the potential for exports to the Northeastern United States. The MPO will develop the regulatory certainty that attracts private investment and sets the course for long-term wind resources development in the Atlantic provinces. This Eastern Energy Partnership could include important projects like interties between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, transmission cables between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, as well as Québec’s and Newfoundland and Labrador’s further development of Churchill Falls and Gull Island.
- Pathways Plus: An Alberta-based carbon capture, utilization, and storage project and pipeline that will substantially reduce emissions with additional energy infrastructure that will support a strong conventional energy sector while driving down emissions from the oil sands. Pathways creates the prospect of facilitating low-carbon oil exports from the Alberta oil sands to a variety of potential markets.
- Arctic Economic and Security Corridor: An all-weather, dual-use, land and port-to-port-to-port infrastructure project that will contribute to Canada’s defence and northern development. The project will support Northern critical mineral projects, create new opportunities for sustainable development, and connect communities to the rest of Canada, while increasing capability for the Canadian Armed Forces in the North.
- Port of Churchill Plus: Rooted in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, including in co-operation with Manitoba’s Crown-Indigenous Corporation, this project will upgrade the Port of Churchill and expand trade corridors with an all-weather road, an upgraded rail line, a new energy corridor, and marine ice-breaking capacity. The approach will prioritize Indigenous equity ownership in developing the projects needed to turn the Port of Churchill into a major four‑season and dual-use gateway for the region. Expanded export capacity in the North through Hudson Bay will contribute to increased and diversified trade with Europe and other partners, while more strongly linking Churchill to the rest of Canada.
- Alto High-Speed Rail: Canada’s first high-speed railway, spanning approximately 1,000 km from Toronto to Québec City and reaching speeds of up to 300 km/hour to cut travel times in half and connect close to half of Canada’s population. This is a project that could create 51,000 jobs during construction and inject up to $35 billion into our GDP – with a target of 25 million tonnes in emissions savings. The MPO will work to accelerate engineering, regulatory, and permitting work to enable construction of the project to start in four years, cutting the original eight-year timeline in half.
(Images of LNG Canada complex in Kitimat and Contrecoeur project)