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Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the next round of projects to be taken on by the Major Projects Office will be revealed on Thursday.Stephen MacGillivray/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to add at least four mining and energy developments to his government’s major projects list on Thursday, two sources told The Globe and Mail.
The sources said the new additions will include the Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas project in British Columbia, Ontario’s Crawford nickel project, New Brunswick’s Sisson mine and a hydroelectric project in Iqaluit. The sources added that the list was subject to change.
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An artist’s rendition shows the floating LNG facilities envisaged by Ksi Lisims LNG, which hopes to export liquefied natural gas from Wil Milit on Pearse Island on British Columbia’s north coast.Ksi Lisims LNG
The Globe is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to disclose the details publicly.
Mr. Carney has said the next round of projects to be taken on by the Major Projects Office will be revealed on Thursday in Prince Rupert.
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The office was set up in the summer to speed along infrastructure and resource development proposals, a centrepiece of Mr. Carney’s efforts to deliver on his campaign promise to reduce Canada’s economic reliance on the United States amid President Donald Trump’s trade war.
The office was created by Bill C-5, legislation passed by the Carney government that allows projects meeting specific criteria to be designated as being in the national interest and then fast-tracked through existing regulatory frameworks. The Major Projects Office – led by former Trans Mountain CEO Dawn Farrell – can recommend projects for that designation, or look for other ways to help get them under way.
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Bill C-5 has been criticized by some environmental and Indigenous groups, who fear its fast-tracking powers will trample ecological protections and treaty rights.
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The LNG Canada export terminal in Kitimat, B.C.Aaron Whitfield/The Globe and Mail
The first five major projects, announced in September, included an expansion of the LNG Canada export terminal in British Columbia, an expansion of a port in Montreal, support for small modular nuclear reactors in Ontario and two mines in Saskatchewan and B.C.
All were under way already. The four identified by the two sources on Tuesday are also at various stages of the application process. Like the initial group, they focus on resources considered vital to future trade and industrial needs.
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New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt met with Mr. Carney on Monday, and told reporters afterward that the Sisson mine had been on the list of projects she discussed with him.
The Sisson Mine project has been debated for over a decade, and would result in the development of an open pit tungsten and molybdenum mine northwest of Fredericton.
In August, the Carney government announced $8.2-million for Northcliff Resources, which is developing the project, to update its feasibility study. The proposed mine also has financial backing from the U.S. Department of Defense.
The LNG project is in the Prince Rupert area, on B.C.’s northern coast.
The Nisga’a Nation is working to construct Ksi Lisims, an LNG export terminal, and the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, which would transport natural gas from northeast B.C. to Nisga’a territory.
The construction costs alone for Ksi Lisims are expected to reach $10-billion, plus another $12-billion for the PRGT pipeline project.
Ksi Lisims is facing two separate legal challenges in Federal Court, with one launched by the Lax Kw’alaams Band and the other by the Metlakatla. Prince Rupert is situated on the traditional territory of the Coast Tsimshian, including the Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla.
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Canada Nickel is developing the Crawford nickel-cobalt project near Timmins, Ont., which contains the world’s second-largest reserve of nickel. The Toronto-based nickel company plans to supply the critical mineral to Canada’s nascent electric-vehicle battery industry.
Last year, Taykwa Tagamou Nation, a Cree First Nation in the Cochrane district of Northern Ontario, reached an agreement to invest in Canada Nickel. The First Nation has also said it wants to supply the mining truck fleet for the mine.
The hydro project is the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit development north of Iqaluit. Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corp. has proposed a 15- to 30-megawatt hydroelectric power generation dam. The company bills itself as Nunavut’s first fully Inuit-owned renewable energy developer.
The federal government announced $6-million for the project earlier this year through the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, also known as CanNor.
