On July 2, 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney signed separate agreements with British Columbia and Alberta on the same day, flying from Vancouver to Calgary to announce them. Both deals are part of Ottawa's plan to help Canada sell more goods to countries outside the United States.

What BC is getting: nearly $20 billion

In Vancouver, Carney stood with Premier David Eby to announce a new agreement. The federal government is committing nearly $20 billion to help BC build new transportation infrastructure, develop clean energy projects, expand child care, and train workers in new skills. Ottawa and BC will set up a committee together to make sure the projects actually happen as planned.

The federal government says these investments could attract more than $200 billion from private companies and help Canada double the amount it exports to countries other than the U.S. over the next ten years. Those are government predictions, not independent studies, so they may change as actual project details get worked out.

One thing that did not change: the federal government's ban on oil tankers loading cargo on BC's North Coast stays in place. This matters because many people thought Ottawa might change this rule as part of the negotiations.

What Alberta wants: a new oil pipeline

Later that same day in Calgary, Carney met with Premier Danielle Smith to talk about a new oil pipeline that would carry oil to the Pacific Ocean. The federal government's pipeline company, Trans Mountain Corp., would build it together with Pembina Pipeline Corp. The pipeline would run through southern BC.

This is a shift in what Smith has said before. She used to argue that any new pipeline should follow a northern route to BC's coast. But she has now agreed to the southern route, which means the tanker-loading ban is no longer a major issue in the negotiations. That removes one of the biggest pressure points in the discussions.

This agreement builds on months of talks between the federal government and Alberta. In November 2025, they signed an initial understanding. In April 2026, they agreed to speed up how fast large projects can be approved. In May, they signed a full implementation agreement. All of these agreements say that BC must be part of the discussions about the new pipeline.

Liquefied natural gas is part of the picture

BC's energy plans were already changing before this agreement. In May 2026, a major natural gas company approved hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in BC. Another LNG project signed a deal with a German energy company to sell it gas. These deals gave Ottawa and BC concrete reasons to talk about how to diversify Canada's trade.

What comes next

Now the three governments — Ottawa, BC, and Alberta — need to discuss the pipeline proposal together. But BC has not said yes to the pipeline yet. The agreement with BC is about the broader economy, not specifically about the pipeline. If the pipeline goes ahead, it will need approvals from Indigenous communities, environmental reviews, and the BC government. The pipeline company already runs another major pipeline, so it knows the process, but building a new pipeline takes several years.

For anyone watching how the federal government and provinces work together, the timing of these announcements is deliberate. First, two agreements about speeding up project approvals (April). Then an agreement with Alberta (May). Then agreements with both provinces (July). Ottawa has laid the groundwork before announcing the full plan. Whether it all works out depends on what BC decides in the three-way talks that are now happening.