Kinew floats oil shipments through Hudson Bay as part of potential trade corridor

Bartley Kives · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 06, 2025 1:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 6

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says lipid could beryllium among the commodities shipped done Hudson Bay if Canada proceeds with a caller oregon expanded larboard on the province's coastline.

Kinew has asked Prime Minister Mark Carney to enactment a bluish commercialized corridor that would impact a caller all-season road, a hydro-electric transmission enactment to Nunavut and perchance a pipeline to Hudson Bay.

Kinew said Friday that lipid is among the commodities that could beryllium shipped done Arctic waters via Hudson Bay. The premier has successful the past floated the thought of liquefied earthy state oregon hydrogen shipments.

"When we're talking astir a pipe, what is the merchandise that makes sense?" Kinew said during a scrum with reporters pursuing a code successful Winnipeg's RBC Convention Centre.

"Are we going to beryllium looking astatine liquefaction, and past possibly it's an LNG thing? Are we looking astatine lipid and state projects? Are we looking astatine thing novel, similar greenish hydrogen oregon possibly a potash slurry? These are the things that we tin awesome to the backstage assemblage we're unfastened to having a treatment about."

In April, Kinew said helium was unfastened to the operation of a 2nd larboard connected Hudson Bay due to the fact that of ecological sensitivities astatine the Port of Churchill, astatine the Churchill River estuary, wherever ample summertime congregations of beluga whales pull tourists. Polar bears besides stitchery eastbound of Churchill each autumn earlier the bay freezes up, supporting an adjacent much lucrative tourism industry.

Kinew said Friday helium would entertain proposals from backstage manufacture astir the champion determination to spot a caller port, pipeline terminal oregon transshipment centre on Hudson Bay, taking into relationship logistics, biology concerns and Indigenous interests.

"Those are immoderate of the cardinal questions that we privation to instrumentality the clip to get right," Kinew said. "There's an urgency close present with these nation-building projects and a nationalist unity dynamic erstwhile [you're] moving with Alberta and Saskatchewan. But we besides request to get the biology portion right."

Alberta premier praises idea, others concerned

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith praised Kinew for suggesting Manitoba would see a bluish lipid pipeline.

"This is what a Team Canada attack looks similar — provinces and their premiers supporting different provinces successful getting their products to marketplace for the payment of each Canadians," Smith said successful a statement.

Oil manufacture experts and biology organizations, however, are unanimous successful their disdain for the thought of shipping lipid done Arctic waters.

There is nary concern lawsuit for shipping lipid done Hudson Bay, said Heather Exner-Pirot, a Calgary-based elder chap and manager of energy, earthy resources and situation astatine the MacDonald-Laurier Institute.

The shipping play done Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait — the transition betwixt Quebec and Baffin Island — is excessively short, requiring costly icebreakers to guarantee the harmless transition of lipid tankers, Exner-Pirot said. The menace of a spill successful distant areas would apt marque security impossible, she said.

"We're lone having this speech of moving lipid done Churchill due to the fact that B.C. is being obstructionist," she said, noting the B.C. government's absorption to lipid pipelines from Alberta. 

"From each angle — from an biology angle, from a concern angle, from a marketplace angle — it makes truthful overmuch much consciousness again to physique that egress, to physique that different pipeline crossed to B.C. to Pacific tidewater."

Eric Reder, the Manitoba manager of the Wilderness Committee, said shipping lipid done Arctic waters would effect in disaster, due to the fact that it would beryllium precise hard to respond to distant spills, which helium described arsenic inevitable.

Reder said determination is simply a much basal crushed to reason the idea.

"While we look astatine the climate catastrophe fuelling fires and floods connected a regular and play basis, if we physique much fossil substance infrastructure, we are going to termination much of america faster," helium said in an interrogation from Hope, B.C.

Kinew suggested shipping fossil fuels done the northbound could beryllium c neutral.

"If we are going to enactment with accepted energy, what are we doing successful presumption of export contracts going westbound to marque definite that we're offsetting immoderate greenhouse state emissions, or are we doing c seizure and utilization and storage?" helium asked.

"Is there a mode that we tin guarantee that arsenic we build, we're besides moving guardant connected clime change?"

Laura Cameron of Manitoba's Climate Action Team said this does not marque sense.

"While Manitoba is successful a authorities of emergency, with tens of thousands of clime refugees evacuated from their communities, Premier Kinew is proposing a caller pipeline to Churchill that would adhd much substance to the fire. We cannot extinguish the flames with 1 manus portion stoking them with the other," she said successful an emailed statement. 

"The provincial authorities should retract these comments and alternatively absorption connected creating a existent program for protecting communities portion swiftly transitioning to cleanable energy."

Trade statement pending

Kinew besides said Friday that Manitoba is adjacent to signing a memorandum of knowing to trim commercialized barriers with British Columbia, akin to a papers the state signed with Ontario successful May.

The premier besides said helium is moving with the national authorities to harmonize nationalist trucking regulations.