10/05/2026
Pacific Link - Canada's New Pacific Gateway and What It Means for the Skeena Region
As Canada faces a more uncertain trading relationship with the United States, Mark Carney's Pacific Link project is being advanced as part of a broader effort to diversify Canada's markets, strengthen the national economy and create new routes for Canadian resources to reach the world.
Canada is entering a different economic era.
For generations, the United States has been Canada's largest trading partner and the principal destination for many of the country's exports. The relationship remains enormously important, but the trade disputes and tariffs of the past two years have demonstrated how exposed Canada can be when so much of its economy depends on one market.
Prime Minister Mark Carney's government has increasingly responded by emphasizing a stronger Canadian economy at home and greater diversification abroad. In August, Carney said Canada needed to build its strength at home while diversifying its trading relationships, following a series of U.S. tariff measures and a suspension of Canada-U.S. trade negotiations.
It is against that backdrop that the federal government has designated the proposed Pacific Link pipeline as a Project of National Interest.
The project, formerly known as the West Coast Oil Pipeline, would move up to one million barrels of Canadian crude oil a day from Alberta to a proposed marine export terminal near Roberts Bank in British Columbia. Ottawa estimates that the project could create approximately 140,000 jobs across Canada, generate more than $20 billion in GDP annually and contribute more than $100 billion in government revenue by 2060. Those figures are federal projections, but they illustrate the scale of the project and why Ottawa is treating it as part of a national economic strategy.
The central idea is diversification. Canada would continue to trade extensively with the United States, but Canadian energy producers would have another major route to international customers, particularly in Asia. According to the federal government, about 90 per cent of Alberta's oil currently goes to the United States, making additional market access a significant part of the project's rationale.
That makes Pacific Link much more than an Alberta infrastructure proposal. It is part of a larger question facing Canada: how does a country with enormous natural resources, a relatively small domestic market and one of the world's longest coastlines build an economy that is resilient enough to withstand changes in global trade?
The Pacific coast is an important part of that answer.
A new western Canadian connection
Pacific Link would connect Alberta's resource base with British Columbia's Pacific coast, creating another route for Canadian energy to reach international markets. The proposed pipeline would head south toward Roberts Bank rather than north toward Prince Rupert or Kitimat.
That distinction matters for Northwest B.C.
Pacific Link is not a Skeena pipeline. Its proposed corridor does not run through Terrace, Smithers, Kitimat or Prince Rupert, and the region would not host the pipeline itself or its proposed crude export terminal.
But the absence of a physical route does not mean the project exists outside the economic story of the Skeena region.
Northwest B.C. is itself becoming an increasingly important part of Canada's Pacific-facing economy. Prince Rupert has developed into a major international gateway, Kitimat is becoming one of the country's most significant energy and industrial centres, and Terrace serves as a regional transportation, service and workforce hub for a large part of the North Coast and Interior.
At the same time, major projects are reshaping the region's economic landscape, including LNG Canada, Cedar LNG, natural-gas infrastructure, electricity transmission, port expansion and mining and critical-mineral development.
Pacific Link therefore belongs to a much larger Canadian infrastructure story in which different parts of the Pacific coast are developing different roles.
What this means for Prince Rupert
For Prince Rupert, Pacific Link does not mean becoming an oil-export port.
The proposed crude terminal would be located at Roberts Bank in the Lower Mainland, leaving Prince Rupert to continue developing its own role as a northern Pacific gateway for containers, bulk commodities and other forms of international trade.
That distinction could ultimately become an advantage for Canada.
Rather than relying on a single West Coast port or attempting to concentrate every commodity through one location, Canada is developing multiple gateways with different strengths. Prince Rupert can continue expanding its container and diversified cargo business while Roberts Bank would provide the proposed Pacific Link crude export connection.
For the Skeena region, the larger opportunity is therefore not the pipeline itself but the possibility of Northwest B.C. becoming an increasingly important part of Canada's broader Pacific trade network.
The federal government has already identified the expansion of Pacific trade infrastructure, including investment involving Prince Rupert and Stewart, as part of its wider economic and maritime strategy.
Kitimat and the North Coast
Kitimat's position is different again.
The community is becoming a major Canadian energy and industrial centre, with LNG Canada, Cedar LNG and associated natural-gas and infrastructure investments establishing a significant industrial presence on the North Coast.
Pacific Link would not supply those facilities and has no direct operational connection to LNG Canada or Cedar LNG. Instead, it represents another Pacific export corridor being developed elsewhere in British Columbia.
Taken together, these projects point toward a more diversified Pacific economy in which Alberta oil, Canadian LNG, minerals, manufactured goods and other commodities can reach international markets through different infrastructure systems.
For Northwest B.C., that creates a broader economic opportunity. The region does not have to host every national infrastructure project to participate in the investment and supply chains that develop around them.
The workforce question
One of the more practical connections between Pacific Link and the Skeena region could be the demand for people and businesses capable of building Canada's next generation of infrastructure.
Pacific Link would require engineers, tradespeople, construction workers, equipment operators, transportation companies and a large network of suppliers and professional services. At the same time, Northwest B.C. is already experiencing significant demand for many of those same skills as major projects move forward.
LNG Canada Phase 2, Prince Rupert Gas Transmission, electricity transmission projects, port development and resource projects will all require skilled workers and specialized contractors.
That creates an opportunity for businesses and workers in communities such as Terrace, Prince Rupert and throughout the Northwest to participate in a much larger western Canadian construction and infrastructure economy.
It also means the region could face increased competition for skilled labour, equipment and contractor capacity as major projects proceed simultaneously.
For communities already dealing with housing and workforce pressures, the scale and timing of these projects will matter.
Indigenous participation and a changing infrastructure model
Pacific Link also reflects a broader change in the way major Canadian infrastructure projects are being developed.
The federal government has proposed a minimum 10 per cent Indigenous ownership opportunity in the project, supported by financing mechanisms intended to facilitate participation.
That approach is particularly relevant in British Columbia, where Indigenous governments and economic-development organizations have become increasingly important participants in major resource and infrastructure projects.
Northwest B.C. has already seen Indigenous partnerships become part of the economic structure surrounding energy, transportation and resource development. Pacific Link will add another major example to that national discussion.
The question is no longer simply whether major infrastructure can be built. Increasingly, the question is how the economic benefits of that infrastructure can be shared with the Indigenous communities whose territories and economies are involved.
The Northern Gateway connection
There is also a significant historical reason why Pacific Link deserves attention in the Skeena region.
For years, the Northern Gateway project proposed moving Alberta oil westward to a marine terminal near Kitimat. Had that project proceeded, Northwest B.C. would have been directly connected to Alberta's crude-export strategy.
Pacific Link is taking a fundamentally different route.
Instead of bringing Alberta crude north to Kitimat, the current proposal would move it south to Roberts Bank.
That means Northwest B.C. is developing along a different economic path from the one envisioned under Northern Gateway. The region's major opportunities are increasingly concentrated around LNG, natural gas, international trade, mining, critical minerals, electricity and other forms of industrial development.
That difference is important when considering what Canada's Pacific economy could look like over the next several decades.
Why the project matters beyond oil
The most significant argument for Pacific Link from Ottawa's perspective is ultimately not about one commodity.
It is about Canada's ability to choose where its products go.
If Canadian oil can reach customers in Asia as well as the United States, producers have a larger potential customer base. If Prince Rupert can expand its international container trade, Canada has another major gateway to global markets. If Kitimat continues expanding its LNG and industrial capacity, Canada gains another Pacific export platform.
The same principle applies to critical minerals, agriculture, forestry, manufactured goods and other Canadian exports.
A more diversified trade network gives Canadian businesses more options and potentially makes the country less vulnerable when conditions in one market change.
That is particularly significant at a time when Canada's relationship with the United States is being tested by tariffs and disagreements over trade.
Carney has repeatedly described diversification and stronger domestic economic capacity as central elements of his government's response. In August, he said Canada could not control developments in Washington but could strengthen its economy at home and diversify its trading relationships abroad.
Pacific Link fits directly into that broader strategy.
What Canada is trying to build
The pipeline is only one part of the infrastructure required for that strategy to work.
Pacific Link would require a route to the coast, a new export terminal, additional marine infrastructure, environmental safeguards, Indigenous partnerships and investment in supporting infrastructure. Carney described the project as part of a broader nation-building effort rather than an isolated pipeline development.
That broader approach is important for Northwest B.C.
The economic future of the Skeena region will not be determined by one pipeline. It will be shaped by whether Canada continues to invest in the transportation, energy, port, telecommunications, housing and workforce infrastructure needed to support economic growth in the North.
Prince Rupert's port infrastructure, Kitimat's industrial development and Terrace's position as a regional service and transportation centre all become more significant as Canada's Pacific trade network expands.
A Canadian project with a Skeena connection
Pacific Link should therefore be understood on two levels.
At the national level, it is a proposed major energy corridor intended to give Canadian oil producers greater access to international markets, attract investment, create employment and reduce Canada's dependence on the United States as the dominant destination for Canadian crude.
At the regional level, it is another piece of the rapidly developing Pacific economy in which Northwest B.C. has an increasingly important role.
The pipeline itself will not pass through the Skeena region. There will be no Pacific Link terminal at Prince Rupert or Kitimat. The project's direct infrastructure footprint will be elsewhere.
But Canada's decision to build additional Pacific export capacity has implications for the economic environment in which Northwest B.C. operates.
For Prince Rupert, it reinforces the importance of having multiple Canadian Pacific gateways. For Kitimat, it highlights the different energy-export role developing on the North Coast. For Terrace and surrounding communities, it adds to the wider demand for workers, contractors, businesses and infrastructure created by a new generation of Canadian projects.
And for Canada as a whole, Pacific Link represents an attempt to make sure that the country's enormous resource base does not depend on one market or one direction of trade.
The United States will remain Canada's closest economic partner. Nothing about Pacific Link changes that reality.
But Canada's experience over the past two years has demonstrated the value of having alternatives.
The country has resources that the world needs, a Pacific coastline that provides access to some of the world's largest markets and communities across the West that are capable of building the infrastructure required to connect those resources with global customers.
The challenge is turning that potential into a functioning national network.
Pacific Link is one part of that effort.
And while the pipeline may bypass the Skeena region geographically, the larger economic strategy behind it reaches directly into the future of Northwest B.C. — a region that is increasingly positioned not at the edge of Canada's economy, but as one of the country's gateways to the Pacific.
