Pipeliners, railways target ‘tremendous’ Western Canadian opportunities

BANFF – Beyond the valuable commodities they carry across vast distances, there's something else pipelines and railways have in common: opportunities in Western Canada.

That much was clear from panelists Tracy Robinson, chief executive of Canadian National Railway Co., and pipeline operator Enbridge Inc.'s chief financial officer Patrick Murray, at the Global Business Forum on Friday.

"I see particularly tremendous opportunity here in Western Canada," Robinson told a room filled with business leaders during a wide-ranging discussion led by National Post editor-at-large Diane Francis.

In its most recent quarter, CN's profits climbed significantly, alongside a surge in sales across all of the railway's product categories. The company's trains in Western Canada also moved a record-breaking amount of grain in the spring.

The favourable results came despite ongoing trade uncertainty between Canada and the U.S. and what Robinson described on Friday as a "time of turmoil."

"All the way from COVID through what we are seeing with tariffs and changes in geopolitics and different demand, different trade flows, new technology revolutions," Robinson said. "It is a very dynamic time."

Still, she argues there is a growing opportunity for Canada to feed a hungry world, not with food alone — but also with energy.

"We're seeing investments with our customers in unit train loading facilities and port facilities to get energy into global markets," Robinson said.

Enbridge operates significant natural gas and oil pipeline infrastructure across North America.

According to Murray, geopolitical tensions are making some players in energy around the world appear less reliable.

"This is Canada — North America's — opportunity to take advantage of the fact that we should be seen as the most reliable place to invest money," Murray said.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has taken a more energy-friendly approach to policy than his predecessor, relaxing several regulations and opening the door to a potential pipeline that could carry crude oil from Alberta to the west coast in B.C.

While no private proponent has come forward to back the proposal, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith expects the pipeline will be added to the federal list of nation-building projects by Oct. 1. Ottawa and Alberta have also signed several other agreements on energy this year.

The effective closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz amid conflict in the Middle East has also drawn more attention to Canada as a secure, reliable supplier of energy. But rocky trade relations between the great white north and the U.S. have also created challenges.

"It's woken up Canada," Murray said. "It's woken up the fact that we have this unbelievable resource base, and that we have not been utilizing it to the effect we can."

Murray added that it's getting easier for Enbridge to make economic decisions in Canada.

Carney has ramped up Ottawa's efforts to attract foreign investment to Canada to help build massive energy projects, alongside major infrastructure and other projects deemed of national interest

"We know we have what the world wants — the energy, the resources, the talent, the technology, the capital," Carney said at the inaugural Canada Investment Summit last week, which aimed to draw up to $1 trillion of capital to the country.

Robinson said the time of perfect clarity and certainty for investment is "gone".

"It takes confidence, but it takes courage to look through the near-term uncertainty and look for what you believe are the logical absolutes in the future," Robinson said.

She says Canada will provide more of the world with food, while becoming a bigger energy player globally.

"Those are things that are investable from our perspective," Robinson said. "Those things happen, whether it's the pipelines with Enbridge or whether it's on the railroads: we are building now to facilitate that."