What do you get when you mix natural gas, Indigenous equity, and a $400 million loan guarantee? A surprisingly feel-good pipeline story.
What happened: Enbridge is selling a 12.5% stake in its Westcoast natural gas pipeline system in B.C. to a group of 36 First Nations for $715 million, marking one of the largest-ever Indigenous equity deals in Canada.
- The Stonlasec8 Indigenous Alliance Limited Partnership’s bid will be backed by a $400 million loan from the federal government.
Catch-up: Government-backed loans allow Indigenous communities to borrow capital at relatively low interest rates and repay them once projects begin to generate cash.
- Back in March, the feds doubled their Indigenous loan guarantee program to $10 billion and expanded the kinds of projects that could access the loans.
Why it matters: Major infrastructure and resource projects in Canada can’t happen without Indigenous participation. Equity deals like this one will be a big part of getting new energy projects built quickly — a major focus of the new Carney government.
- Mark Podlasly, CEO of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, says Indigenous stakeholders can help remove bureaucratic bottlenecks, like lengthy social and environmental impact assessments, that have long delayed projects in Canada.
What’s next: According to the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, there could be $525 billion in investment opportunities for Indigenous equity participation by 2033.—LA