Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to announce her government’s proposal for an oil pipeline to the West Coast on Thursday.
The premier’s press secretary, Sam Blackett, confirmed the date to Global News on Tuesday. At the time, he said it would provide details about a “new one-million-barrel-per-day” pipeline.
Smith’s announcement comes later in the week than was initially expected, with a publicly viewable website first saying details would be provided Tuesday.
Blackett noted that July 1 was a holiday in providing information about the new date.
The province and federal governments inked a memorandum of understanding last fall that pledged to pave the way for a bitumen pipeline to the West Coast.
It’s tied to progress on a major carbon capture network by the province’s biggest oil producers.
Last month, documents first reported by CBC News showed a number of options for a pipeline, with the majority ending in British Columbia.
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But any pipeline that would go through B.C. is likely to face opposition from Premier David Eby and would require the lifting of the federal ban on northern oil tankers. Such a change is opposed by both Eby and several First Nations communities.
A week after those documents were reported, B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix expressed frustration about communications involving the pipeline.
Prime Minister Mark Carney was expected to arrive in Alberta on Wednesday evening, but severe weather in Ottawa cancelled his trip. He is currently expected to visit B.C. on Thursday.
Carney told reporters Tuesday that he and Smith have been in “close contact” and that the province’s efforts to submit a proposal around Canada Day are “tracking well.”
But the fate of the proposal rests largely with the CEOs of the five biggest oilsands companies, whose production would be needed to fill the new pipeline and who are partners in the Pathways project, said Dennis McConaghy, a retired pipeline executive and author.
Those companies would be hard-pressed to sign on as shippers on a new oilsands pipeline so long as they’re subject to higher climate costs in the form of the industrial carbon price and required to spend tens of billions of dollars on Pathways, he said.
The pipeline application comes as Albertans prepare to vote on 10 referendum questions in October, including one on whether to remain in Canada or hold another referendum on separation at a later date.
The Alberta government is aiming for the pipeline to be designated a project of national interest by October and get shovels in the ground as early as September 2027.
Startup would be in the mid-2030s.
— with files from Global News’ Amy Judd and The Canadian Press.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
