Following today’s announcement by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, the Green Party of Canada strongly condemns the decision to designate the proposed West Coast oil pipeline, now known as Pacific Link, as a project of national interest, calling it reckless, costly and unsupported by the evidence.

“Greens are outraged that the Cabinet has made a decision without even a cursory review of the evidence, committing Canadians to wasting another $40 billion plus of public dollars on an uneconomic, climate-killing pipeline,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.

The federal government claims Pacific Link will create 140,000 jobs, generate more than $20 billion in GDP annually and $100 billion in government revenue by 2060. Yet key elements of the project, including its final route, ecological surveys and cost estimates, have not been developed yet.

The Green Party has repeatedly pointed out the project’s lack of a business case and the financial risk to taxpayers, particularly following the significant cost overruns associated with the Trans Mountain expansion and the rapid, worldwide shift to renewable energy following price shocks associated with the U.S. war in Iran. At the same time, the Liberal government maintains that the additional greenhouse gas emissions associated with Pacific Link would be immaterial.

“I defy the Carney Cabinet to find a single climate scientist who could defend their claim that the additional GHG emissions are not “material,”” said May.

Pacific Link is the first project to receive a national-interest designation under the Building Canada Act, enacted as part of Bill C-5. The Green Party submitted a detailed review of the proposed pipeline before Cabinet made today’s decision.

“This is the first application of the egregious expansion of the powers of the executive branch of government found in C-5. The Green Party of Canada submitted a detailed review, which was clearly not read,” said May.

Among the issues raised in that submission was the federal government’s description of what the pipeline would actually carry.

“This government is so reckless they failed to notice that the project description they placed on the Canada Gazette was inaccurate in describing the pipeline as intended to carry “crude oil.” It is not,” said May. “The Alberta project description was accurate. The pipeline is intended to carry a far more hazardous pre-processed bitumen, diluted to flow through the pipe, known as “dilbit.””

That distinction matters at Roberts Bank, where the proposed pipeline would terminate in the Fraser River Estuary. Less than 30 per cent of intact habitat remains in the estuary, which is home to 102 species at risk of extinction.

The federal government’s own environmental review of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion found significant adverse and cumulative effects on Southern Resident killer whales, including reduced availability of the Chinook salmon they depend on for survival. That assessment examined a container terminal expansion, not an oil export terminal receiving tankers carrying diluted bitumen.

“That review never considered what it would mean to turn Roberts Bank into a terminal for dilbit-loaded tankers,” said May. “The Fraser River Estuary is already under enormous pressure. The federal government knows how fragile this ecosystem is. Adding a dilbit export terminal and increased tanker traffic is not just another development. It is another major threat to an ecosystem already struggling to survive.”

The federal government also claims it consulted more than 130 Indigenous communities before designating Pacific Link as a project of national interest, with further consultations expected over the coming year.

But the number of communities contacted does not establish that meaningful consultation took place. First Nations opposition is already on the record, including from the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, which has called on Canada and Alberta to halt the project until affected First Nations have been consulted in good faith and their free, prior and informed consent has been sought.

“Greens will stand with First Nations and do everything we can to stop this costly, reckless mistake,” said May.

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