Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are set to announce the next step in accelerating a major infrastructure project in Fort McMurray on Thursday morning. Their announcement comes on Oct. 1, the federal government’s deadline to officially designate a proposed pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia’s south coast as a project of national interest. The Prime Minister’s Office said the leaders would discuss how to move the project forward, and the Alberta government said Pembina Pipeline Corporation president and CEO Scott Burrows would join them. The news conference was scheduled for 9 a.m. Mountain Time.

A national interest designation would put the proposal within Ottawa’s accelerated major-projects framework, but would not amount to final approval to build. The proposal has been referred to the federal government’s Major Projects Office, with the Alberta government named as its proponent. A Canada Gazette notice published Aug. 1 set Sept. 18 as the deadline for comments on the designation.

The government’s notice said Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc would work with the Alberta and B.C. governments on the project while consultations with Indigenous communities were underway. Ottawa has also advanced several other large projects toward national interest designation: the Grays Bay road and port project in Nunavut, the Mackenzie Valley Highway in the Northwest Territories and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s proposed deep geological repository in northern Ontario.

The proposed line would run about 1,250 kilometres from Bruderheim, Alta., near Edmonton, to a port south of Vancouver near Delta, B.C. It would carry upwards of one million barrels of crude oil for shipment to international markets. The route would follow almost entirely the same corridor as the existing Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline, also known as TMX.

The project submission package estimates construction would cost between $35.2 billion and $43.7 billion. If the pipeline proceeds, it would be owned by Trans Mountain, the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission and Pembina Pipeline Corp. Trans Mountain Corporation would oversee planning and construction. Pembina Pipelines would be the private sector partner, holding a 10 per cent ownership stake during construction and an option to buy an additional 10 per cent once the line is operating.

The pipeline is a central part of an energy agreement between the federal and Alberta governments. Oil and gas is Alberta’s largest industry, and global energy prices have a significant effect on provincial government revenues. The landlocked province has faced limited shipping capacity to tidewater for decades, constraining its ability to move oil and gas to international markets.

Smith has previously said Carney has worked constructively with Alberta on an agreement and on advancing a new West Coast pipeline. Carney has adjusted some policies to make the proposal more likely to proceed. Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act, would give the federal government new powers to fast-track major infrastructure projects.

Carney has said the pipeline would avoid “highly sensitive areas” and that the tanker ban along B.C.’s north coast would remain in effect. On Tuesday, he announced $1.2 billion in federal funding for ocean protections as Ottawa moved toward decisions on the pipeline and an expansion of a major port in Metro Vancouver.

Carney has also supported expansion of the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank terminal. During a July visit, he told reporters the government was looking to provide about $10 billion for that project as part of an effort to “grow our exports away from the United States.” A TD Economics report released this summer estimated a new West Coast pipeline could increase Canada’s oil exports by 20 per cent and more than double the volume currently shipped by tanker to Asia.

Based on reporting by Global News Edmonton.