Hundreds of construction jobs expected in the Fraser Valley as pipeline project gets the green light

Ali Hendi, Enbridge Director of Projects and Sunrise Expansion Program Project Lead, said, “We are pleased with the approval of the Sunrise Expansion Program. This marks an important milestone for a critical energy infrastructure project that will help to ensure energy affordability and security. This multi-year project has required hundreds of thousands of work hours to reach this stage, including design, environmental studies and engagement work with Indigenous and local communities. These efforts have strengthened and made the project better, and we remain committed to ongoing collaboration throughout this Project’s construction and operation phases.”

In the Fraser Valley, about 900 construction workers are expected to be hired during the peak construction period. These workers will be using local accommodations, restaurants and services, benefiting local businesses.

The project will also generate tax revenue for provincial, regional and municipal governments, which funds important civic facilities like schools, hospitals, roads, and other public infrastructure.

Local workers and businesses are encouraged to complete this online Community Interest Form if they’re interested in working, or providing services or accommodation for the Project.

“It’s another step toward diversifying our asset base in a world hungry for this,” said Jay Khosla, the executive director of economic and energy policy with the Public Policy Forum and a former assistant deputy minister in the Privy Council Office. “The South Koreans in particular are out there begging for any source of supply of gas at this moment in time. The Nepalese and the Bangladeshis and the Pakistanis are running out of cooking fuel, which is gas-based, (and) are moving to 4-day work weeks because the Qatari supply has been taken off the market. This is all an effort to address that.”

While the expanded pipeline will help Canada meet the broader goal of reducing its reliance on the United States as a customer, it also helps position Canada as a necessary supplier to the United States.

“For a long time, the shale revolution in the United States was flooded with natural gas, and now we’re starting to pick up again where the United States is importing more from Canada and wants more from Canada,” said Heather Exner-Pirot, a senior fellow and director of energy, natural resources and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

“They need more AI. They need more data centres. And they are exporting more LNG than they’ve ever exported, and we’re talking about non-renewable resources.

“So I feel in my heart in the next 10 or 15 years, Canadian natural gas is going to be very important to the American natural gas story.”

by Mike Vanden Bosch

Hundreds of construction jobs expected in the Fraser Valley as pipeline project gets the green light

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