Murray Wood: A special Grey Cup edition of who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week, Wood is pre...
TERRACE, B.C., CANADA — With a buzzing electrical substation in Terrace, B.C., as his backdrop, Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced two new British Columbia additions to the federal government’s list of nation-building ventures that will be considered for fast-tracking.
The listing of Ksi Lisims LNG and the North Coast Transmission Line gives B.C. four projects on the roster of projects that Carney says will add billions to the economy to move it away from an over-reliance on the United States.
They are in addition to the LNG Canada Phase 2 in Kitimat and the expansion of the Red Chris copper mine in northwestern B.C., which Carney’s government announced earlier this year in its first phase of priority projects.
Ksi Lisims, a floating export facility involving a natural gas pipeline across the north, will be one of the world’s cleanest operations, with emissions 94 per cent below global average, all while adding $4 billion a year to the nation’s GDP, Carney said.
To power it, there is the North Coast Transmission Line, a 450-kilometre power line between Prince George and Terrace, which Carney said also has the potential to create another $10 billion in new economic activity and is to be extended into the Yukon.
Both projects have faced criticism. While the Nisga’a Nation is a partner in Ksi Lisims LNG and will host it on its territory, some other First Nations have not granted consent or have gone to court to challenge it.
Standing outside the Skeena Substation on a muddy road, Watakhayetsxw, a hereditary chief from the Gitanyow Nation who travelled to Terrace for the announcement, said she was strongly opposed to Ksi Lisims LNG.
“You know, if we did projects with clean energy, I’d be all for it, but this one with compressor stations and everything else that the government is planning, I’m opposed to signing,” she said.
B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office, which gave a greenlight to the project in September, said at the time it was “confident that the engagement process the EAO followed was adequate considering the circumstances,” with respect to the Gitanyow hereditary chiefs.
In September, the Gitanyow hereditary chiefs lost a B.C. Supreme Court challenge against the project.
Other groups have disputed its environmental credentials, which the BC Greens have called “greenwashing,” while labelling the transmission line “a public subsidy for resource extraction.”
But Carney says the line is about realizing the country’s full potential to be an “energy superpower.”
To help get the transmission line going, Carney said the Canada Infrastructure Bank was loaning $140 million to the provincial power utility BC Hydro for pre-construction activities such as project planning, engineering, fieldwork, procurements and consultation with First Nation communities.
The transmission line would double the flow of electricity from Prince George to Terrace at a cost of $6 billion.
Carney said the power line “will anchor a clean energy industrial corridor for generations.”
The transmission line was already one of B.C. Premier David Eby’s 18 priority projects and he has staked his government on the passage of a bill to fast track its construction.
He said last month that he would go to the polls if the bill to fast-track the project wasn’t passed in the legislature.
Eby said at an unrelated news conference Thursday that there will be financial requests from B.C. to the federal government for help with the projects.
“B.C. taxpayers cannot single-handedly fund the prosperity of the entire nation,” he said.
Eby said with so many of its projects on the federal government’s list, B.C. can be proud that they’re bringing forward opportunities to grow the Canadian economy, helping us become independent of the whims of one person in the White House.
“This is a really positive piece of news for British Columbia, but it means the federal government needs to look West more than just for these projects, also for the support that we’ll need to be able to deliver them.”
He said he’s not surprised that a heavy-oil pipeline isn’t on the prime minister’s list, because there’s no proponent or route.
“It is a figment of a communication person’s mind in Alberta and it has no connection to real investment in our country or in our province. If it goes ahead, it will only be because it is fully funded by taxpayers to the tune of $40 to $50 billion.”
Na’Moks, a Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief, was also outside Carney’s announcement on Thursday, saying he came to support his “relatives” who are fighting Ksi Lisims and the transmission line. At least two B.C. First Nations have ongoing legal action against Ksi Lisims LNG.
Na’Moks was key figure in protests against the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline across northern B.C. The protests led to rail blockades by Indigenous people nationwide just before the pandemic.
Carney said First Nations were getting a say in projects referred to the Major Projects Office, and referral does not mean they are approved.
“It means that all the efforts are being put in place from the federal government in order to create the conditions so it could move forward. But those decisions are taken by many parties, including, very much, First Nations.”
The prime minister said the federal government is putting “huge financing” on the table for Indigenous equity ownership of the projects to help ensure they are fair.
None of the investments being considered by the Major Projects Office have yet received a national-interest designation that would confer special treatment in permitting and approvals.
Terrace Mayor Sean Bujtas attended the news conference on Thursday and said he’s worried about impacts on his community.
“As great as these projects are, the city doesn’t receive any taxation if these projects are built because they are not inside our community.”
He said he wants to see both the federal and provincial governments help the community embrace growth with critical infrastructure such as sewer, water and housing.
Ksi Lisims LNG has said that it plans to reduce community impacts by housing all construction and operations workers “at the facility’s remote location.”
“This will mean less pressure on housing, traffic, health and social services in northwestern B.C.,” it says in a promotional video.
BC Greens legislator Jeremy Valeriote said there were “serious questions” around both newly announced B.C. projects. He said “foreign-owned” Ksi Lisims LNG does not represent the interests of British Columbians, calling claims about the project being low-carbon “flat-out greenwashing.”
“Meanwhile, the prime minister’s announcement to invest in the North Coast Transmission Line is fraught with uncertainty on how the clean electricity it delivers will be used,” he said in a statement.
“Ksi Lisims LNG is a foreign-owned, foreign-built fossil fuel project that will enrich U.S. billionaires while leaving British Columbians to bear the environmental and economic costs.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2025.
Nono Shen, The Canadian Press
