Alberta Premier Danielle Smith offered rare praise for Ottawa after Prime Minister Mark Carney named the first set of “nation-building” projects that will move through a new fast-track review.
Smith said the list signals a shift in tone from the prior federal approach and aligns with Alberta’s push to expand energy trade and large-scale infrastructure.
She added that she sees “common ground” with the prime minister following a meeting in Edmonton.
Carney’s opening slate sends five proposals to the federal Major Projects Office for accelerated permitting. They include an expansion that would double output at the Shell-led LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia.
Ontario Power Generation’s small modular reactor at Darlington is also on the list, along with a major capacity build-out at Montreal’s Contrecoeur container terminal.
Foran Mining’s McIlvenna Bay copper project in Saskatchewan made the cut, as did a life-extending expansion at the Red Chris copper-gold mine in northwest B.C. operated by Newmont.
The government says these projects together represent more than C$60 billion in investment and “thousands” of jobs, with the Major Projects Office aiming to cut federal approvals to a maximum of two years under a “one project, one review” approach.
The office was created under the Building Canada Act, which took effect in June, and launched August 29 under CEO Dawn Farrell. Carney framed the push simply: “We will build big, build now, and build Canada strong.”
Smith’s endorsement matters because the first list is heavy on energy and trade infrastructure but does not include new oil pipelines, a priority she has floated as part of a broader bargain that would tie emissions reductions in the oil sands to new export capacity.
Industry groups said the LNG pick could diversify buyers for Canadian gas beyond the United States and strengthen energy sovereignty, while pipeline proponents urged Ottawa to keep the door open in upcoming rounds.
Environmental organizations immediately pushed back, arguing that locking in more liquefied natural gas conflicts with climate goals and risks undercutting the case for renewables.
Groups including Environmental Defence and Greenpeace questioned the climate math around upstream production and methane leakage, a debate that will shadow future selections from the same program.
Beyond the first five, Ottawa flagged several concepts for further work that hint at what could come next.
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Those include an Alberta-based carbon capture and storage build known as Pathways Plus, which the federal description says could also support additional energy infrastructure tied to low-carbon oil exports.
A high-speed rail corridor from Toronto to Quebec City; Atlantic wind and transmission projects; an Arctic economic and security corridor; and a strategy to speed more critical minerals mines to investment decisions.
The government said additional projects will be announced in the weeks ahead.
First, Ottawa is leaning into LNG, nuclear, ports, and copper as near-term growth levers that can be permitted faster and financed at scale. Second, the permitting overhaul is now the story, not just the projects.
If the Major Projects Office can hold to a two-year federal clock and coordinate with provinces on a single review, the investment hurdle for complex builds could drop meaningfully.
That promise will be tested as the chosen projects move from headline to shovel and as Ottawa weighs whether future rounds include oil pipelines or stick to LNG, power, ports, and critical minerals.
