Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on October 1 that the proposed West Coast Oil Pipeline, renamed Pacific Link, has been listed as a project of national interest under Schedule 1 of the Building Canada Act. The decision followed a three-month consultation process led by the Major Projects Office. The federal government says it consulted more than 130 Indigenous communities near or along potential routes in Alberta and British Columbia, as well as federal departments and the Government of British Columbia.

The designation sets up a single federal review process to develop a conditions document for the project. Over the coming year, the Major Projects Office, supported by the Canada Energy Regulator, is to examine issues including ownership, benefits, Indigenous rights, environmental safeguards, local hiring and oversight. Indigenous Peoples are to be involved from the start, and the government says it intends to finalize the conditions by September 1, 2027. Route mapping, ecological surveys, cost estimates, procurement and workforce planning remain part of work toward a final project concept.

The federal announcement describes an ownership plan under which Canada and Alberta would each hold half of Pacific Link. Indigenous communities would be offered at least a 10% ownership interest, financed through federal and Alberta Indigenous loan-guarantee programs. Trans Mountain Corporation is to lead project development, while Pembina Pipeline Corporation is participating as a private-sector investor and offering expertise. The announced southern route is intended to protect British Columbia’s North Coast and avoid sensitive ecosystems, including the Great Bear Sea.

The government says the proposed line could enable an additional one million barrels of daily exports to Asian markets. Its estimates of 140,000 jobs, more than C$20 billion in annual gross domestic product and $100 billion in government revenue by 2060 are projections attached to the proposal, not measured outcomes. The listing therefore marks a review milestone rather than a construction start or a completed permit decision. Public hearings, consultation and the final conditions process are still ahead, and their results will shape whether and how the project proceeds.

Pacific Link sits within a wider federal and Alberta push to expand access to non-U.S. energy markets. The October announcement links the pipeline to export infrastructure and to the Pathways carbon-capture project, but these are related policy efforts rather than a single approved construction package. The government says it will coordinate relevant federal authorizations through the conditions document. The release does not supply a final route map, capital budget or construction schedule; those details depend on further development, review and consultation.