OTTAWA — The head of Canada’s new Major Projects Office and her staff sidestepped MPs’ questions today about whether she has special powers to skirt the West Coast tanker ban.
As she was grilled by MPs in her first committee appearance since taking over her new role in late August, Dawn Farrell said 500 projects are waiting already to be reviewed by her office, with nine currently being assessed.
Conservative MP Branden Leslie said he’s heard the government is telling stakeholders the new powers in the government’s major projects bill could be used to bypass the ban on oil tankers off the northern coast of British Columbia, and asked Farrell if that is true.
Farrell passed the question to her staff, and director Sarah Jackson replied that there is no “automatic” exemption for the tanker ban.
But when Leslie pressed further to ask if the tanker ban would apply to a new pipeline approved by her office, Jackson said she couldn’t speak about hypotheticals.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is pushing to have a new pipeline project submitted to Farrell’s office by the spring, pending a deal with the federal government which she hopes would see it drop some environmental laws, including the tanker ban.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2025.
Nick Murray, The Canadian Press
