Good morning. Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to announce the next round of “Major Projects Office” approvals from Prince Rupert – a northern B.C. port serving as a growing stage for Ottawa’s infrastructure push.

The government is expected to add at least four mining and energy developments to his government’s major projects list on Thursday, The Globe reported last night.

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When Mark Carney steps off the plane in Prince Rupert on Thursday, he’ll be arriving at the edge of the continent – and the centre of his government’s economic agenda.

The northern B.C. port, home to fewer than 13,000 people, has become a focal point for Ottawa’s push to fast-track what it calls “nation-building” infrastructure.

From the air, Prince Rupert looks carved off from the mainland – a port built along a narrow strip of coast between rainforest and rock, linked by one bridge and a rail line. But the Prince Rupert Port Authority oversees the deepest natural harbour in North America and one of the closest ports to Asia, about 500 nautical miles nearer than Vancouver or Seattle. Containers from Asia can reach the Prairies in less than 100 hours by rail, and a new round of federal funding is aimed at expanding that capacity further still.

The government’s choice of Prince Rupert to announce a list of approvals underscores how much of the country’s biggest ambitions are already anchored there – a region once known mainly for its fishing industry and relentless rain, now recast as a gateway to Canada’s resource future and its trade independence.

The announcement, The Globe reported last night, will include the nearby Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas project, as well as Ontario’s Crawford nickel mine, New Brunswick’s Sisson mine, and a hydroelectric development in Iqaluit.

At Fairview and Ridley Island, the port’s expansion is reshaping sites that sat idle through decades of industrial decline. The Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal, opened in 2019, ships propane to Japan and South Korea about once a week – the first facility in Canada to do so.

Beside it, construction is under way on a $1.35-billion expansion by AltaGas and Royal Vopak that will add propane, butane, methanol and other bulk liquids by 2026. The nearby Metlakatla First Nation is helping to build an import logistics hub with federal financing, part of a broader move toward Indigenous ownership in the infrastructure that carries Canada’s exports abroad.

And over a longer term, Brent Jang writes, there are plans to increase container capacity. The operator of the existing Fairview terminal, DP World PLC, is slated to run a potential second facility that would add capacity roughly equal to one million shipping containers a year, effectively doubling the port’s scale.

Not everyone in the region will be applauding Carney’s arrival tomorrow if his announcement includes Ksi Lisims, which is facing separate legal challenges launched by the Lax Kw’alaams Band and by the Metlakatla. Prince Rupert is situated on the traditional territory of the Tsimshian Nation, which includes both communities.

A combination of geography, history and rail access helps explain why so much of Ottawa’s infrastructure agenda runs through Prince Rupert:

500 nautical miles

Distance advantage to Asia compared with Vancouver or Seattle – cutting up to 60 hours of sailing time on trans-Pacific routes.

35 metres

Depth of the harbour – the deepest natural in North America, ice-free year-round.

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