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The federal government says it’s committed to protecting the endangered southern resident killer whale population while also fast-tracking a new West Coast oil pipeline and other infrastructure projects that could threaten the orcas’ survival.
And the British Columbia government has said it recognizes, along with Ottawa, the need to protect these whales when it dropped its opposition to the pipeline last month.
But environmentalists are doubtful that a proper balance can be struck between the environmental and economic considerations at play, pointing to sustained evidence that the whales’ already-small population continues to decline and will be put at further risk by additional tanker traffic in the Salish Sea.
“I see no way for them to be able to thread that needle,” Anna Johnston, a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law, said in an interview.
“They’re putting the cart before the horse, and that’s just going to end up in a crash.”
The federal government quietly gave notice over the August long weekend that it intends to designate the proposed new pipeline from Alberta to B.C. as a “national interest” project — the first such designation under the Building Canada Act.
The law passed last year allows such projects to get special treatment — such as exemptions from certain environmental laws — to help move them toward final approval. Those laws include the Fisheries Act, the Species At Risk Act and the Impact Assessment Act.
That has raised concerns that the government could override a finding that the pipeline puts the southern resident killer whales at potential risk of harm, if an assessment reaches such a conclusion.
Less than 75 of these orcas remain in the Salish Sea, an area that includes the Roberts Bank port terminal where the new pipeline would terminate. A proposal to expand the port to allow for increased international shipping capacity has also been referred to the Major Projects Office.
Government assessments and independent reports by environmental groups like the David Suzuki Foundation dating back several years agree that underwater noise from vessels, including commercial tankers, is among the top threats to survival for the killer whales, which rely on echolocation to hunt and travel.
“This is not a new species that’s at risk,” said Hussein Alidina, the lead specialist for marine conservation at World Wildlife Federation Canada.
“The threats that these whales have faced … over these two to three decades have not been reduced, and the conditions have not been made conducive to the recovery of the whale. (And) all these projects coming up continue to add more layers of threats.”
A discussion paper released this past spring on how the government could get major projects built more efficiently included, among other suggestions, a proposal to give ministers “limited power, with a high threshold to be met, to exempt specific projects from the application of the jeopardy test for species at risk, but only if it’s in the public interest and if the proponent has made all reasonable efforts to avoid or reduce impacts on at-risk species.”
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Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon posted on X in May that reporting from the Toronto Star suggesting the proposal was meant as a “carve-out” for the southern resident killer whales “could not be further from the truth.”
He pointed to recent investments outlined in the spring economic update, including over $250 million for the Whales Initiative over five years, as evidence of government action to protect at-risk whale populations.
“We would not take any actions that would undermine these important strategies and substantial investments,” MacKinnon wrote at the time.
“Our approach to assessments isn’t about cutting corners, but improving coordination, efficiency, and long-term planning resulting in faster decisions, without weakening oversight or standards.”
Hours before Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced an agreement to advance the pipeline on July 2, Carney and B.C. Premier David Eby — who had vocally opposed a pipeline to northern B.C. — struck an agreement that addressed several B.C. concerns, and highlighted those same whale protection investments.
“Canada and B.C. also recognise the need to protect Canada’s whales and the southern resident killer whale habitat along the British Columbia coast, including through the Whales Initiative,” the memorandum of understanding says.
The document does not outline what additional measures could be taken to achieve that goal. It sets a timeline for a federal-provincial implementation committee to “advance work” on the issue by Dec. 1 of this year.
The B.C. government did not respond to multiple requests for comment and clarification from Global News by deadline.
Johnston, the environmental lawyer, said the B.C.-Ottawa agreement is likely not enforceable the way a contract would be, adding the language itself is likely too vague to create a legally binding obligation.
“I read that language as attempting to provide the public with some reassurance, without actually committing or giving rise to a legal obligation to ensure the protection of the southern resident killer whale,” she said.
In addition to the Whales Initiative funding commitment — which includes $95 million over five years and an additional $16.5 million annually toward specific measures for the southern resident killer whales like noise monitoring and management — the government also intends to permanently expand the minimum distance a vessel can approach an orca in B.C. waters from 200 metres to 1,000 metres. The expansion is currently in place as an interim order.
A Transport Canada spokesperson told Global News this week that information on when those regulatory amendments will come into force will be shared “in due course.”
But Alidina says these measures are insufficient, noting a future new pipeline and Roberts Bank terminal expansion will bring significantly more tanker traffic into the whales’ habitat — something the spring economic statement itself acknowledges.
“If you were really serious about this, you would be putting a stop (to economic infrastructure projects) until you were able to get recovery for southern residents, and improve the condition of the Salish Sea before you talk about any more development in the Salish Sea,” he said.
He added that, while marine mammal protection is ultimately a federal responsibility, “I think the provincial government could be taking a much stronger stance here.”
In a statement to Global News this week, a spokesperson for the Privy Council Office also pointed to the same federal investments and other marine environmental measures taken by the government.
That includes renewing the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative to support that species’ protection and recovery, which Pierre-Alain Bujold said will benefit the southern resident killer whales by improving access to their key food source.
Bujold added that the Building Canada Act “is not intended to bypass approvals,” and that designated projects are still subject to impact assessments and consultations with potentially impacted Indigenous communities.
“Moving more efficiently does not mean skipping vital steps,” the spokesperson said.
But Johnston said the proposed schedule for the pipeline put forward by the Alberta government — a “national interest” project designation by Oct. 1, with construction expected to start as early as next September following the Major Projects Office’s review — is “an insanely short time frame.”
“It’s not long enough to meaningfully identify what the specific impacts are going to be,” she said. “It’s definitely not enough time for public and Indigenous input.”
The designation notice for the oil pipeline says Indigenous consultation is already underway, and invites public comment on “any considerations that should guide the government’s decision” until Sept. 18.
Johnston said if any project moves ahead despite evidence of further risk to southern resident killer whales, she expects lawsuits challenging the Building Canada Act on both Indigenous consultation and environmental grounds.
She also foresees public opinion turning.
“Polling may be strong for pipelines in the abstract,” she said, “but when we’re talking about a specific project (that could) cause the extinction of a beloved and iconic species, I think that support for the pipeline will rapidly plummet and opposition will grow.”
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