{"id":67476,"date":"2026-01-13T11:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/energi.media\/?p=67476"},"modified":"2026-01-13T11:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:29:09","slug":"fast-tracked-western-pipeline-wont-draw-investors-without-taxpayer-backstop-ex-alberta-energy-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energi.media\/news\/fast-tracked-western-pipeline-wont-draw-investors-without-taxpayer-backstop-ex-alberta-energy-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast-Tracked Western Pipeline Won\u2019t Draw Investors Without Taxpayer \u2018Backstop\u2019: Ex-Alberta Energy Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This article was published by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theenergymix.com\/fast-tracked-western-pipeline-wont-draw-investors-without-taxpayer-backstop-ex-alberta-energy-minister-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Energy Mix<\/a> on Jan. 12, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>By Mitchell Beer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Alberta is demanding even faster federal approval of a bitumen pipeline to British Columbia\u2019s west coast, even as a former provincial energy minister admits the project would have \u201czero\u201d chance of attracting private investors without federal subsidies to \u201cbackstop\u201d it.<\/p>\n<p>The new demands came just six weeks after Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theenergymix.com\/guilbeault-resigns-as-smith-declares-crushing-victory\/\">signed<\/a>\u00a0a controversial memorandum of understanding (MOU) that envisioned an accelerated, two-year approval schedule for at least one new pipeline. Smith issued her latest letter to Carney after Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/energymixweekender.substack.com\/p\/lesson-from-venezuela-carney-must\">bombing and kidnapping raid<\/a>\u00a0in Venezuela became the latest pretext to demand ever-faster federal action on the pipeline plan despite a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theenergymix.com\/venezuela-raid-collides-with-failing-oil-demand-as-trump-opens-new-era-of-geopolitical-threat\/\">glutted global market<\/a>\u00a0for oil.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlberta intends to submit its application for a pipeline to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theenergymix.com\/mpo\">Major Projects Office<\/a>\u00a0by June\u2014and [Smith] asked that it gets approved by this fall,\u201d CBC\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/calgary\/chance-of-privately-developed-pipeline-almost-zero-if-no-government-backstop-former-alberta-energy-minister-9.7040397\">reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithin the current geopolitical context, timelines of up to two years are still woefully long and risk putting Canada at a disadvantage,\u201d Smith\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo\/?fbid=1731371751409505&amp;set=pcb.1731371764742837\">wrote<\/a>. \u201cAny delay risks ceding market share, losing investment, and undermining Canada\u2019s competitive position in a rapidly changing global energy landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the MOU was signed in late November, impact assessment experts warned that even a two-year approval period would be too short to allow for thorough review of a major, new pipeline, or for engagement with Indigenous and other affected communities. Short-circuiting those steps could help land a project in court, where it would only face further delays.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s letter also sidestepped\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/energymixweekender.substack.com\/p\/donald-trump-vs-the-world\">major questions<\/a>\u00a0about the years it would take to refurbish Venezuela\u2019s decrepit oil production infrastructure, whether U.S. fossil companies are willing to invest, and whether there will significant global demand for new oil\u2014from Venezuela, Canada, or anywhere else\u2014by the time any new project could be completed.<\/p>\n<p>A west coast pipeline would also need federal subsidies, Smith\u2019s former energy minister, ex-pipeline lobbyist Sonya Savage, told a CBC podcast. Without taxpayer support, \u201cI would say it\u2019s not just diminishing, the likelihood of a private sector proponent.\u2026 I would almost say it is zero at this point,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>While the MOU explicitly calls for any new pipeline to be built and financed by private companies, Savage said a federal \u201cbackstop\u201d to cover cost overruns, like the massive,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theenergymix.com\/breaking-report-calls-trans-mountain-a-red-flag-for-future-subsidies-after-price-rises-584\/\">584% budget increase<\/a>\u00a0that plagued the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, would not be a new concept for Canada.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe TransCanada mainline gas line in the 1950s would not have been built without federal government intervention,\u201d she told CBC\u2019s West of Centre podcast. \u201cThey set up a Crown corporation, they backstopped it. Enbridge\u2019s Line 9 in the 1970s would not have been built without a federal government backstop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a release Monday, the Calgary-based Pembina Institute called on both governments to \u201cstay true\u201d to the language about \u201cstrong regulations that will drive down oil and gas emissions\u201d that accompanied the release of the MOU.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlberta using this moment to lobby in public against what it is now calling an \u2018overly aggressive\u2019 industrial carbon price raises more questions about the outcome Alberta has in mind\u2014especially given it already agreed in the MOU to strengthen its system,\u201d said Executive Director Chris Severson-Baker. \u201cThis is in addition to the regulatory changes Alberta pushed through in December\u2014days after signing the MOU\u2014that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theenergymix.com\/alberta-weakens-industrial-carbon-price-just-days-after-signing-mou\/\">weakened its industrial carbon pricing system<\/a>\u00a0and effectively moved the goalposts on the negotiation before it had begun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Severson-Baker added that, \u201cfar from being a reason to further expedite a pipeline proposal and weaken Canadian climate policy, the Venezuela situation should give further pause for thought and reassessment about the best economic bet for Canada going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c42 days after signing the \u2018grand bargain\u2019 MOU with the federal government, Alberta is trying to change the terms of the agreement, leveraging the current situation in Venezuela,\u201d veteran climate analyst Dan Woynillowicz\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:ugcPost:7415879355928739840\/\">wrote<\/a>\u00a0on LinkedIn. \u201cUnderpinning the MOU is a commitment to \u2018good faith\u2019 collaboration,\u201d but \u201cI don\u2019t see how seeking any and every opportunity to change the terms of the MOU or shift the goalposts can be seen as living up to this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Substack, fossil industry analyst and communicator Bill Whitelaw praised Savage for \u201cspeaking her truth\u201d on the taxpayer backstop that private investors would expect before pouring their own money into a new pipeline project. That \u201cloadsa dough\u201d subsidy won\u2019t happen, he said, as long as there\u2019s a chance that Alberta separatists will succeed in pulling the province out of Canada\u2014much less making it Donald Trump\u2019s sought-after\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/energymixweekender.substack.com\/p\/how-donald-trump-will-come-after\">51st state<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOttawa will need to pony up big bucks to bolster an already-thin business case,\u201d Whitelaw\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/billwhitelaw.substack.com\/p\/in-the-republic-of-alberta-there\">wrote<\/a>. \u201cFellow Canadians would never countenance Ottawa forking over billions to a province that can\u2019t be bothered with Confederation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>This article was published by The Energy Mix on Jan. 12, 2026. By Mitchell Beer Alberta is demanding even faster federal approval of a bitumen pipeline to British Columbia\u2019s west coast, even as a former <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/energi.media\/news\/fast-tracked-western-pipeline-wont-draw-investors-without-taxpayer-backstop-ex-alberta-energy-minister\/\" title=\"Fast-Tracked Western Pipeline Won\u2019t Draw Investors Without Taxpayer \u2018Backstop\u2019: Ex-Alberta Energy Minister\">[Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":67477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[322,13,2929,2478,41,14,95,16],"class_list":{"0":"post-67476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-carney","11":"tag-danielle-smith","12":"tag-energy","13":"tag-featured","14":"tag-fossil-fuels","15":"tag-oil-and-gas"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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