Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, K.C., and Elizabeth Bulbrook are lawyers at White Raven Law.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, signs a pipeline memorandum of understanding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary on Thursday.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

When Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stood together this week to lay the groundwork for a new oil pipeline, they framed it as a bold step in Ottawa’s push to fast‑track infrastructure and major projects.

Behind the announcement lies a deeper story: one of environmental standards being sidelined, provincial opposition ignored, and Indigenous rights placed at risk.

B.C. Premier David Eby has already voiced his opposition. And for First Nations whose lands and waters are directly in the path of such developments, there is serious risk of rolling back hard-won rights and opening lands and waters to decisions taken without Indigenous consent.

Such risk is widespread. For long, proponents have said it’s difficult, if not impossible, to build new pipelines in Canada. Now, Mr. Carney welcomes a new pipeline so boldly and nakedly because the government has new powers that make it easier.

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