OTTAWA — Ottawa announced it's contributing up to $200 million toward the Cedar LNG project on the northern B.C. coast as trade turmoil with the U.S. propels calls for Canada to diversify its resource export markets.
The money is coming through the Strategic Innovation Fund, which falls under the Innovation, Science and Economic Development ministry.
The floating liquefied natural gas processing facility and marine export terminal in Kitimat, B.C., has a price tag of almost $6 billion and is set to start up in late 2028.
It's being built through a partnership between the Haisla Nation and Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp.
"Haisla values of sustainability and environmental protection are core to how Cedar LNG has been designed, and it will result in one of the most innovative LNG facilities in North America, with one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world," said Haisla Chief Councillor Crystal Smith.
The announcement comes ahead of an expected federal election call on Sunday, and against the backdrop of mounting U.S. threats to Canadian sovereignty and an ongoing tariff war between Canada and its southern neighbour.
"The need to build a resilient economy with new export opportunities for Canadian energy suppliers has never been clearer," said federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
"Our international partners are looking for a reliable supplier of low-carbon energy sources, and Canada will be there to enable communities — and in this case, Indigenous partners — to be the stable provider they are looking for, while creating good jobs and driving economic growth."
LNG is natural gas that has been chilled into a liquid state, enabling it to be transported by sea in specialized tankers. Cedar LNG is to be fed natural gas from Western Canada via the Coastal GasLink pipeline operated by TC Energy.
Another LNG project in Kitimat, LNG Canada, is set to start delivering its first cargoes later this year. That project is a partnership between Shell and four Asian companies.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind a proposal to ship gas more than 1,300 kilometres from Alaska's North Slope to an LNG plant south of Anchorage at an estimated cost of US$44 billion.
“Fifteen years ago, we were in the starting blocks with the United States and we are just now commissioning our first LNG export facility and the United States is the world's largest exporter of natural gas," TC Energy CEO François Poirier told The Canadian Press earlier this week.
"Fortunately for Canada, because of developments geopolitically, data centre demand for natural gas, the opportunity has come back around to us."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2025.
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