“Despite months of delay, we are pleased the federal government has approved this key infrastructure project, which will create significant economic benefits and good jobs for Albertans, at a time they are needed the most. We will review the details of the decision and work with TC Energy, the owner of the NGTL system, to ensure the project’s success.
“The NGTL expansion will provide increased capacity that is critically important to market access for the Canadian natural gas industry, which has suffered from bottlenecks and capacity constraints to key markets in Eastern Canada and the United States.
“This pipeline system expansion, vital to ensuring Alberta natural gas continues to trade competitively, is a multibillion-dollar private investment that will create 5,500 construction jobs and $817 million in labour income for Albertans. Overall, the project will also create an estimated $110 million in economic opportunities for Indigenous-led companies.
“The project was expected to be under construction this summer but as a result of delays by Ottawa, the bulk of construction is not expected to get underway until 2021. We congratulate TC Energy on their perseverance in seeing the project through to this final approval and for continuing to be a valuable contributor towards Alberta’s economic recovery.”