Lack of an west-east oil pipeline leaves Canada vulnerable to U.S.: energy minister

Federal Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says Ottawa and the provinces should discuss the possibility of an oil pipeline to Eastern Canada to improve energy security and diversify trade. 

Wilkinson said Thursday that United States President Donald Trump's tariff threats have exposed "vulnerabilities" in the Canadian economy, including in the energy sector. 

“The world has changed quite a bit in the aftermath of what we have seen from what has been our friend, the United States," he told reporters in Montreal. “I think it does call for us to reflect on whether there are some conversations that we need to have in this country.”

Trump’s threats of imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods — and 10 per cent tariffs on energy resources — have renewed interest from Canadian leaders in energy projects that would lessen the country's reliance on the U.S. as a trading partner. Even in Quebec, which has long opposed a new oil pipeline, the government cracked open the door this week to the possibility of fossil fuel exports travelling through the province. 

Critics, however, say the era of oil pipeline development in Canada is likely over, and that it would take much more than political rhetoric to revive it. 

Earlier in the day, Wilkinson told reporters on a call from Washington, D.C., that it's a risk for Canada to be "so dependent on the United States for the export of oil." Nearly all of Canada's crude oil exports — about four million barrels a day — go to the United States. The Trans Mountain pipeline, which was bought by the federal government in 2018 and runs from Alberta to Burnaby, B.C., is the only oil pipeline that can serve other markets.

"The Trans Mountain pipeline was not without controversy, but I think in the current context, it is hard to argue that that was not an important investment for this country to make," he said. 

Wilkinson also spoke about domestic energy security, pointing out that Ontario and Quebec are supplied by the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline, which transports western Canadian crude oil through the Great Lakes states and into Canada. "We hope that that will continue going forward, but I think we are all aware now that perhaps there are some vulnerabilities that we did not actually believe existed," he said.  "And I would expect that the prime minister and the premiers of the provinces and territories will be reflecting on all of this."

Wilkinson didn't specifically mention Energy East, the proposed oil pipeline from Alberta to New Brunswick that was cancelled in 2017. But other leaders have, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, who last month called on the federal government to "immediately approve" the project. 

Even Quebec Premier François Legault has suggested Trump's tariff threats could weaken Quebecers' staunch opposition to a pipeline he has previously said would carry "dirty energy" through the province. “There’s no social acceptability for this kind of project right now in Quebec,” he told reporters Monday. “But of course … what Mr. Trump is doing may change the situation in the future. So if there’s social acceptability, we will be open to these kinds of projects.”

On Thursday, he said if a pipeline were proposed, his government would consider it. 

Still, some experts are viewing the new interest in pipelines with skepticism. "The signals from major pipeline companies suggest that there's not an appetite for another new oil pipeline," said Amy Janzwood, assistant professor of political science at McGill University, who specializes in pipeline politics. 

TC Energy, the former proponent of Energy East, spun off its crude oil pipelines business in 2023 to Calgary-based South Bow Corp. In a brief statement, a South Bow spokesperson said only that Energy East "was terminated by TC Energy in 2017."

Janzwood said it's quite possible there will be no more major oil pipelines built in Canada. “There's a lot of risk and uncertainty around the future of the oilsands,” she said. “Proposing a massive new oil pipeline that would be dramatically expanding oil production doesn't make economic sense given the current context.”

In a statement, Melissa Lantsman, federal Conservative deputy leader, accused the Liberal government of killing Energy East. She said a Conservative government would repeal Bill C-69, which overhauled Canada's environmental assessment process, "to get projects approved so we can get our resources to market and bring home powerful paycheques.”

A new poll from the Angus Reid Institute this week found that four out of five Canadians, including 74 per cent of respondents in Quebec, believe Canada "needs to ensure it has oil and gas pipelines running from sea to sea across the country."

Carol Montreuil, a vice-president with the Canadian Fuels Association, said people would "probably have a different opinion today" on projects like Energy East. "I think the merit, unfortunately, of the situation we're going through now with the U.S. is again to bring to the forefront the issue of security of supply," he said. "And this has not been discussed enough when some of these projects were cancelled."

But Charles-Édouard Têtu, climate and energy policy analyst with Quebec environmental group Équiterre, said he doesn't think the current enthusiasm for pipelines will last. "They're banking on a temporary political or economic crisis. Then to answer it, they're proposing projects that would have permanent consequences," he said. "When faced with a crisis, they try to rely on opportunism. And it would be Quebecers who pay in the end."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2025. 

— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington, D.C., and Stéphane Blais in Montreal