Welcome to Economic Insights, your twice-weekly deep dive into the major projects and policy shifts shaping the Canadian economy.

Stories we are following:

– Feds designate Pacific Link oil pipeline under new approval process.

Ottawa has endorsed a new pipeline that would carry 1 million barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s oilsands to the West Coast.

The project will be the first to go through the fast-tracked approval process created under sweeping regulatory powers introduced after the 2025 election.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Thursday that the pipeline – now referred to as the Pacific Link – had been officially listed under the Building Canada Act, setting off a one-year clock for the new Major Projects Office to develop a binding conditions document.

That is set to replace the permits the project would require under various laws, including the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, the Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act, the Canada Marine Act and Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

Here’s that story.

– Alto high-speed rail could cost up to $113B: budget watchdog.

The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates building a high speed rail network between Toronto and Quebec City, without a stop in Kingston, could cost between $75 billion and $113 billion. 

The government often cites figures between $60 billion and $90 billion in 2024 dollars. The project’s estimated costs have drawn the ire of opposition parties, including the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois, who have warned of cost overruns.

Dan Albas, Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport, released a statement shortly after the report came out promising Conservatives would cancel the project.

By connecting Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Quebec City with trains travelling up to 300 kilometres an hour, Alto promises to cut the Montréal-Toronto trip to about three hours and offer a faster alternative to driving, flying or the slower existing rail service in Canada’s most densely populated corridor.

More here.

By the numbers:

10 per cent: The minimum equity stake offered to First Nations on the Pacific link pipeline. 

3: The number of projects that have been Gazette’d for national interest status, excluding the pipeline.

$90 billion: The government’s higher cost estimate for the high speed rail project, in 2024 dollars. Lower than the $113B figure the budget watchdog calculated.

Major projects watch:

– Kebaowek First Nation has withheld its Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ proposed Near Surface Disposal Facility at Chalk River. All parties now appear to be waiting on the Court of Appeal’s decision before deciding their next steps in this landmark case, which tests federal Indigenous rights law in the context of major project reviews. 

– By signing a preliminary sales agreement with UK’s Centrica, Ksi Lisims has 75 per cent of its export spoken for, well within the range LNG projects like to be before making a final investment decision.

– Canada’s real gross domestic product was essentially unchanged in July, with 10 of 20 industrial sectors expanding.  Statistics Canada published the figure on Tuesday, alongside an advance estimate pointing to growth of 0.2 percent in August. Construction rose 1.3 percent and utilities 1.7 percent, offset by a 0.9 percent decline in manufacturing and a 0.5 percent decline in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction.

Headlines: