Pacific Link's 77-day window: keeping a clear record when consultation is compressed

The explanatory note published with the Order in Council that made Pacific Link Canada's first national interest project uses the word "compressed." It says the consultation timelines fell during harvesting season and wildfires. (The note is not part of the Order itself.) It also says that "the majority of Indigenous communities consulted were not prepared to support Project listing."

It is a candid account of the process, and a useful guide to what an engagement record needs to show when time is short. National interest projects are designed to move fast, and Pacific Link will not be the last one.

The dates, from the government's own record

News coverage described the consultation as two months long. The Order in Council gives exact dates, and they are the ones to rely on.

Alberta submitted the proposal to the federal Major Projects Office on July 2, 2026. Notification letters went out the next day, opening consultation with more than 130 communities. A notice appeared in the Canada Gazette on August 1. The original deadline for written submissions was August 26. It was extended to September 18 because of harvesting season and wildfires, and the office shared its preliminary national-interest assessment on August 28, with three weeks left to respond.

The window closed on September 18 after 77 days. Cabinet listed the project on October 1, 13 days later.

The project itself is large. The pipeline would run up to about 1,250 kilometres from Bruderheim, Alberta, to a deepwater port near Delta, BC, carrying a million barrels a day, at an estimated cost of $35.2 billion to $43.7 billion. Trans Mountain Corporation is the proponent for an ownership group that includes the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission and Pembina, and at least 10 per cent ownership is to be offered to Indigenous peoples.

The government's count of the engagement is in the same document: more than 140 meetings with more than 110 communities and organizations, 95 communities using participant funding, and more than 100 written submissions.

What nations said about the time

Coldwater Indian Band said its requests to extend consultation went unanswered while wildfire evacuations were under way (CFJC Today). Tsawwassen First Nation said in July that it had not been consulted (Daily Hive), and on the day of the listing said it would need to be adequately consulted on the marine terminal before taking a position (The Province).

Treaty 8 Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi sits on the Major Projects Office's Indigenous advisory council. He said the council was never asked whether the timeline was adequate, and that he would have said no (APTN News).

Cold Lake First Nations has gone to the Federal Court. It says it was left out of consultation on a project that affects its Treaty 6 rights, that the cumulative effects of oilsands growth were never addressed, and that the listing effectively approves a linked carbon capture project without consultation. It wants the designation quashed. Chief Kelsey Jacko put it simply: "We're trying to work with Canada. We keep trying, but nobody's trying with us." (APTN News)

Not every nation is opposed, and no nation has announced formal support. In the oilsands region, Fort McKay First Nation's chief has said the nation is interested in partnering, and Mikisew Cree First Nation's chief said the nation is neither endorsing nor opposing the project for now (CBC News). The most useful record captures this full range accurately.

Listing is not the end of consultation

The October 1 listing opens the next stage of consultation rather than closing it.

University of Calgary law professor David Wright explains on ABlawg that listing a project under the Building Canada Act deems the findings needed for its federal authorizations to be made in its favour, but the Crown still has to consult before it issues the single conditions document (s. 7(2)(c)). The duty to consult can't be deemed. In his words, "getting PLP on the Schedule 1 was the easy part." The government's target for those conditions is September 1, 2027.

The Order in Council is published in the Canada Gazette as P.C. 2026-925. A bill now before Parliament could make the early record even more important. Bill C-39, the proposed Building Canada Strong Act, would send challenges to national-interest orders straight to the Federal Court of Appeal. JFK Law's overview warns that consultation "will be compressed into fewer, earlier stages," so evidence has to go into the record during the short consultation window, because adding it later will be hard (JFK Law). The bill is before a Commons committee and is not law, and the Act's own consultation requirements remain as they are today.

Put those together and the conclusion for anyone keeping records is plain. On a fast-tracked project, the consultation-stage record may be the only record a reviewing body ever sees. This is general information, not legal advice.

What a clear record shows under compression

When time is short, a well-kept record does a lot of the work. For each nation, it shows:

• Every date that matters: notification, information sent, deadlines, and each extension request with its answer.
• Capacity constraints the nation raised, including wildfire evacuations, harvesting season and staffing, and what was done about each.
• Information the nation asked for, and whether and when it was provided.
• The difference between being on the consultation list and actually engaging. More than 130 communities were on the Pacific Link list; meetings were held with more than 110 communities and organizations. Those are different numbers for a reason.
• Participant funding offered and used.
• The nation's position in its own words, with a date and a source. "No position yet" is a valid entry.
• How the nation's concerns were considered, and the written answer it received.

In StakeholderHub, an unanswered request from a nation can be logged as an issue or a commitment with a due date, so it surfaces on the dashboard instead of sitting in someone's inbox. On a 77-day clock, that difference matters.

What to do this week

1. On any file with a compressed schedule, build a dated list of every request a nation has made, for extensions, information or meetings, and the answer each one got.
2. Record capacity constraints as part of the engagement record, not as background, along with what your team did in response.
3. In every report, show "on the consultation list" and "engaged" as two separate numbers.
4. If your project could become a national interest project, file evidence as you go. Assume the consultation-stage record is the one a reviewer will read.