Indigenous Stake Key to Trans Mountain Expansion, Group Says

Canada’s government should fulfill its promise to sell a stake in the Trans Mountain pipeline to indigenous people before a planned expansion later this year, said a group representing First Nations communities that are seeking a significant investment.

Less than two years after capacity of the sole pipeline carrying crude from Alberta to British Columbia’s coast was nearly tripled to 890,000 barrels a day, the government-owned Trans Mountain Corp. is planning further expansion to 1.19 million barrels a day by 2028. While the government, which acquired the system in 2018, has pledged to sell it to private owners, including indigenous communities, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said late last year that a sale will probably have to wait until final tolls are settled and the capacity is expanded.