The Canada Energy Regulator has approved a settlement between Trans Mountain Corp. and companies that pay to ship their oil through the Alberta-to-British Columbia pipeline.

A commission of the regulator found the agreed-to tolls were “just and reasonable.”

The decision allows Trans Mountain to contract up to 90 per cent of the pipeline’s capacity to shippers, an increase from 80 per cent.

Trans Mountain announced the settlement in July following 18 months of negotiations with its shippers, including Cenovus Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, and ConocoPhillips Canada.

The federal Crown corporation operates the 1,180-kilometre pipeline that runs from Edmonton to a marine terminal in Burnaby, B.C., where crude is loaded onto tankers and sent across the Pacific.

The $34 billion expansion completed in 2024 tripled the decade-old pipeline’s capacity, but the final price tag was nearly quintuple a 2017 estimate.

Aya Dufour reports. 

Also, a scoop.

The federal Liberal government is preparing to designate a proposed West Coast pipeline as a project of national importance, iPolitics has learned.

A government source, speaking confidentially because they’re not authorized to speak publicly, said the pipeline was discussed during last week’s cabinet meeting, the first of the fall sitting, and multiple government and industry sources confirmed the designation would take place this week.

A source connected to the federal Liberals said the Major Projects Office has begun outreach to First Nations that would likely be impacted by the pipeline.

As per the Building Canada Act, a project progressing through the streamlined approval process must be designated as listed through an order-in-council approved by cabinet. A government source said that order is targeted for Oct. 1.

Marco Vigliotti has more. 

Canada will need businesses to ramp up investment at home next year as U.S. trade restrictions weigh on exports, but continued uncertainty over access to the country’s largest trading partner could complicate that recovery, according to a new economic outlook.

Deloitte expects non-residential business investment to grow 3.5 per cent in 2027, more than double the 1.6 per cent projected this year, even as export growth slows to just 0.3 per cent.

That investment rebound is expected to help offset some of the weakness from trade, but hinges on major projects moving ahead and businesses regaining confidence.

The forecast comes two weeks after Ottawa emerged from the Canada Investment Summit touting nearly $500 billion in new investment commitments, putting a spotlight on how quickly those pledges can translate into project and workforce growth.

Sydney Ko reports. 

In Other Headlines

Internationally

Elsewhere, New York prosecutors say they are reopening investigations into an alleged gang rape in 2024 that involved Cornell University students, as Gov. Kathy Hochul calls for outside counsel to review the school’s response to the case.

The moves come after the alleged victim, referred to as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York this month. In it, she claims multiple men drugged and brutally raped her for more than four hours at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024.

In a nine-page statement, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced on Monday that efforts are underway to reexamine the case. Once his office determines appropriate charges, the case will be presented to a grand jury, he said. Van Houten said he has assigned a senior prosecutor, with experience in sex crimes, to start preparations.

Hochul said in a statement on Tuesday that she supports the D.A.’s decision to revisit the allegations in the case, which she described as “nothing short of horrifying.”

NPR has more. 

Saudi Arabia is being urged to reconcile with the United Arab Emirates over Yemen as the price Riyadh must pay to form a military alliance capable of driving the Houthis back.

Relations between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in Yemen, where both had backed anti-Houthi forces, plummeted in January this year when a force with which the UAE had been aligned – the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) – was attacked and defeated by Saudi Arabia in a move intended to squash its attempt to recreate a separate southern state. The UAE subsequently in effect quit Yemen.

But the unexpected success in mid September of the Iran-aligned Houthis’ drive to the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait against pro-government forces has transformed the geopolitics of the region again. The push south defeated the previously UAE-backed National Resistance Forces led by Tareq Saleh, whose front rapidly collapsed.

The future role of the UAE in Yemen was discussed at a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday attended by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the UAE president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and a group of other Arab states, including representatives of Saudi Arabia.

The Guardian has more. 

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

And finally… It’s National Coffee Day.

Maybe it’s a little late to include this in our evening newsletter, but if you’re someone who’s not particularly affected by caffeine, some coffee shops are offering a deal or two.

Find out more here.