Alberta and Ontario unveil 3,300 km 'Northern Shield' pipeline plan

newsJul 6, 202621237

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday unveiled a proposed 3,300-kilometre ‘Northern Shield’ pipeline route to carry oil from Hardisty, Alberta, past Regina and Winnipeg to Sarnia, Ontario. The proposal would move about 500,000 barrels per day with possible expansion to 800,000 barrels per day, though there is no estimated price tag or construction timeline because the project is still in its infancy. Ontario launched a feasibility study last fall and the provincial government has begun consultations with Indigenous communities; Manitoba has refused to join because it demands Indigenous partnership from the start. Ford said Ontario could own the pipeline and potentially fund construction, and he discussed the project with Dawn Farrell of the federal Major Projects Office. Smith said the corridor could eventually allow Alberta oil to be exported to Europe and framed the announcement as progress on an agreement among Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan to pursue an energy corridor. Ontario currently gets most of its crude from Western Canada and has refineries in Sarnia and Nanticoke; the announcement follows Alberta moving ahead on a separate west-coast pipeline proposal with Trans Mountain and Pembina last week.

My IRL friends call me Chris

@christyceeck.bsky.social

I'm pulling Ford's msging here to show how ON is jumping on the bandwagon to further the schema that... pipelines = protecting Canadian jobs pipelines = a public good pipelines = a patriotic duty Oil & gas are literally killing us & our pols are trying to poison our brains with propaganda, too.

But there is no private-sector proponent or price tag for the new scheme, which is currently the subject of a feasibility study being led by Infrastructure Ontario.

“Our plan to build the Northern Shield Energy Corridor is a plan to protect workers in Ontario, Alberta and every part of the country,” Ford said in a written statement.

“We’re going to keep working to build a more secure, united and resilient Canadian economy, so we can keep Canadian workers on the job, make life more affordable for Canadian families and help get Canadian energy to new markets across the country and around the world.”

314h ago

Greg Bester 🇨🇦 🇧🇪3

And spending on pipelines gives Ford an excuse to plead poverty when a hospital closes beds.

Jamie Carson1

Confused about the Regina/Winnipeg thing. Do they think it's like high-speed rail?

Barbara MacKinnon1

Almost looks like the route would abuse the use of rail lines as well as waterways. Then add more pollution and damage for spills, explosions and refineries in populated areas of a number of provinces. Not my plan.

JackMcgraw 🇨🇦 1

It wont protect a single job either

Andrew Dobbie1

Manitoba will defend Canadians against such horrible decisions🙏

Michael Nabert

@sustainablesong.bsky.social

Say what you like about his credentials, but Mark Carney, Canada's appeaser-in-chief, sure as hell knows how to surrender. So spectacularly that it's hard to believe he wasn't completely on Danielle Smith's side from the very beginning, united in their deep & abiding contempt for the climate. 🧵1/

Against the backdrop of a blue sky with some scattered clouds in it, a white flag of surrender ripples in the breeze.

On the left hand side of the image, black text reads: Mark Carney's 90% taxpayer-funded pipeline "deal" with Alberta is total capitulation to Danielle Smith

On the right hand side of the image, black text reads: The same way that Trump's $300 Billion "deal" with Iran is total capitulation in the war he just lost

Out of frame of the image, so not visible here but clearly implied, citizens in the heat-wave-scorched landscape below alternate between livid fury and hopeless weeping as they see the horrific impacts of this colossal, utterly unforgiveable betrayal of the entire living biosphere heading towards them.

324h ago

Michael Nabert9

Carney's MOU with Alberta presented in November of 2025 was a terribly lopsided lousy deal to begin with, but of course it wasn't a firm deal the way we think of the word. It was only - like many of his new international trade announcements - a non-binding sketch of what a deal might look like. 2/

Kris Morris2

Just wait till Smith, Moe, and Ford come begging for money for their new pipeline fever dream. Capitulation on top of capitulation.

MondoAB1

I absolutely believe he was completely on Danielle Smith's side from the very beginning. Try to find evidence to the contrary. Not words, deeds.

Quoting this

T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦21

It was pretty clear from the beginning that Carney's pro-climate stance was performative. He has always been a corporate profits guy through and through.

scott dagostino11

The video Mark Carney posted last week bemoaning Pierre Trudeau’s National Energy Program in the 80s really pulled his mask off. “I remember how Ottawa made Albertans feel like our resources weren’t our own,” he said and the “our” is telling. He’s working for Alberta oil execs, not us. Thread 👇🏼

Patrick Canning 🇨🇦2

Again, to quote the Tragically Hip; "this house it has its politics, over there, that's my room, and that's my sister .. it was something that we could no longer contain.."

Adam Radwanski

@aradwanski.bsky.social

Timely, since in a span of four days we’ve seen a would-be privately funded west-coast pipeline turn into a publicly funded one, and a pitch for a new Alberta-Ontario pipeline *start* from the premise that it might be publicly funded.

201h ago

Jeff Doctor

@jeff.doctor

this is legit lol "The pipeline could eventually allow for Alberta oil to be exported to Europe, said Smith." It begins in Alberta (landlocked) moves through Manitoba (who says no) and ends in Sarnia which is right beside the US in SW Ontario, nowhere near the Atlantic 🤡 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

202h ago

Andy Chalk3

Our insistence on putting the dumbest people in charge will be the end of us.

Leslie Saffrey 🇨🇦1

This has tunnel under the 401 vibes

Quoting this

simongood.bsky.social5

Ford, Smith two American wannabes with a corrupt streak so deep there is no bottom.

E z r a4

some of the most numbnut abuse of power i've ever seen

Toronto Star

@thestar.com

#Breaking: Premier Doug Ford is proposing a 3,300-kilometre pipeline to ship Alberta oil to refineries in Sarnia, Ont. It would move between 500,000 and 800,000 barrels of oil a day and snake from Hardisty, Alberta, to Sarnia via Regina and Winnipeg. New from @robertbenzie.bsky.social:

125h ago

Paul // Lost Scot 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇦8

These guys know solar energy is free, right? And that solar is cheaper than oil per watt hour, right? That same money, invested in renewables, could probably power an entire province. Why do they still get so hard for old squashed plant juice? Is it the bribery? It’s the bribery, isn’t it?

Deep Due Diligence Dudgee8

Doug's buddies must have some land to lease along the route or he wouldn't care.

k3lmart.bsky.social6

Will the tunnel under the 401 come first?

Justin (Yells at Cars)4

Future generations paying Doug's debt:

Katherine StDenis2

Alberta's bitumen is finite... So gotta ask... How much will this pipeline cost? How many years will the construction of this new pipeline be? What's the ROI (Return of Investment)?

Emerence 🍁1

Is he offering to pay for it?

Quoting this

Bothered Boy 🚩🏴Back on my Bullshit6

I hate that the only big, national, unifying infrastructure project ever brought up and taken seriously is an oil pipeline. Absolute farce of a country. 🙄

Unapologetic Lee 🇨🇦2

Ya, just what we need - two new pipelines. Idiots. All of them. #cdnpoli

ℳatt

@matttomic.bsky.social

Alberta spending half their lives whining about how they're so forgotten by the rest of Canada, how they get no respect, and then they step in front of a microphone to announce a pipeline that just completely ignores an entire 500 km-wide province as if Manitoba is Jan Brady

194h ago

FuzzyWuzzy in Toronto🇨🇦

@fuzzywuzzyto.bsky.social

Oil tankers on the Great Lakes? Not on your life. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

154h ago

Scott Y0L0 🇨🇦2

Ain't happening. He would need a refinery designed to process that sludge specifically.

Tavy G1

The good cop bad cop routine is now officially exposed

Dave Nelson 🇨🇦1

To Sarnia refineries -could happen but tankers, never happen. They'd never navigate the locks. Bet they don't get commercial money buy-in Port of Churchill is more likely for tankers.

disillusioned torontonian1

for crying out loud. how backwards are we planning to go?

Bob Beck, (mycatsheds)1

That one will get filed in the future projects folder along with the Hwy. 401 Tunnel...don't hold your breath for a start date.

Prickly Pete 🌵

@fellowhuman666.bsky.social

I wonder if it would be cheaper to give Alberta residents UBI instead of Canadians paying for another pipeline. At least the money wouldn't make the oil companies richer and we could finally get some real solar and wind projects in the prairies.

15Yesterday

tremendous content enthusiast10

The whole point is to make oil companies richer. That's what Canada exists for.

sleepy-62.bsky.social4

Oh I like that idea. Put them all on some kind of pension and be done with it 🤣🤣🤣

doggonecrazy.bsky.social3

This Albertan doesn't make a cent off of oil and gas but like other taxpayers will be paying for this gift to big O&G.

consbegone.bsky.social

@consbegone.bsky.social

Here we go: Smith, Ford & Carney working hand in hand for big oil. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

73h ago

Pete Quily

@pqpolitics.bsky.social

So 161 to 202 million if #CarneyPipeline is 4.6 times over budget. But could be more Pipeline's expected to cost between $35 - $44 million, according to Alberta’s estimates (It’s worth noting the Trans Mountain expansion project was 4.6 times over budget) archive.is/lTpDT #bcpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

Carney & Smith are forcing a #WealthTransferTax from the middle & working, and poor classes to LPC & UCP donor-owned billionaire oil companies.

WE pay for 80-90% of the tar pipeline

WE pay for Oil Spills & Cost Overruns.

Socialize the losses. Privatize the gains

https://thedeepdive.ca/ottawa-and-alberta-pick-pipeline-route-b-c-falls-in-line/

70% of the oil sands are owned by Foreigners

423h ago

Courtney Theriault

@ctheriault.bsky.social

Premier Danielle Smith says she will work with Corb Lund to address some of his concerns after his Water Not Coal petition failed. She adds they've already addressed many of his concerns.

44h ago

True Oak10

Very simple solution - reinstate the coal moratorium that was in place since Lougheed and no one complained about until coal barons caught the UCP ear. The UCP always working for their rich friends and separatists never for average Albertans.

Petzie (AMW) 🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦7

I am sure we can trust her. (not)

Tim Lade 🇨🇦6

And why did it fail, Danielle?

Squeegy Beckinheim🇨🇦6

It didn’t fail. He met all legislative requirements. Dani blocked it.

20xt66

Well, as long as we have her word on that I'm sure that'll be good enough then. /S

🇨🇦Peislandergirl (she/her)6

I collected signatures - was anyone I know contacted by Elections Alberta, because I wasn’t and I haven’t heard of anyone who was? 🎣

Quoting this

Peter2

She has addressed those concerns "return to sender"

Cody Anstead 🇨🇦🇺🇦2

The premier continues to lie about the impact of coal mines & is spewing bullshit coal industry propaganda. There are no safe coal mines in the Rockies. No compromises.

Heather Campbell

@thatheatherc.bsky.social

OMG. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is *such* good friends with Alberta Minister of Indigenous Relations Rajan Sawhney, he doesn't even know how to pronounce her name in the Northern Shield Energy Corridor announcement. Amazing. [I'm not there, obviously, these are people who are vexatious to my spirit.]

105h ago

APTN News

@aptnnews.bsky.social

The prime minister and Alberta premier announced a proposed west coast pipeline that, if built, would see a million barrels per day flow largely alongside the existing Trans Mountain corridor. Listen to that story and more on the latest APTN News Brief.

84h ago

Catelli

@catelli.bsky.social

Apparently no one understands that pipelines don't just magically create supply, refining capacity or demand out of thin air. Or think tarsands. Whatever. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

72h ago

Catelli2

Edit: THICK tarsands. Not THINK tarsands. Stupid joke lost due to typo.

Mark Shore1

the important things to remember is that sure, they take about a decade to plan and build, and ok, then a couple more decades to pay off their capital costs, but then you've got infrastructure that will last decades longer than the oil and gas business cases for them

David Evans1

These two clowns. Dil and Do. The vibratory twins.

Robert Benzie

@robertbenzie.bsky.social

Awkwardly, Premier Danielle Smith turns to Premier Doug Ford and says "what were you calling yours?" referring to the Northern Shield Energy Corridor proposed pipeline from Alberta to Ontario. www.thestar.com/politics/pro...

64h ago

Quoting this

John Roscoe2

I'd be a lot more receptive to these pipe dreams if they presented a long-range plan for how the infrastructure would be used when solar, wind and battery storage become so cheap that demand for oil dries up.

Jason Markusoff2

“No one would ever think in 100 years it would get done,” said Premier Ford, about a potential pipeline project heading to the feasibility study stage.

1 source

cbc.caFord, Smith unveil plan for new ‘Northern Shield’ oil pipeline between Alberta and Ontario | CBC News

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Alberta and Ontario unveil 3,300 km 'Northern Shield' pipeline plan

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