TOP STORY
Woodfibre LNG Hits 70% — and the World Is Begging for More
Seven kilometres south of Squamish, the proof that B.C. can still build big things is rising 13 storeys out of Howe Sound. Woodfibre LNG is now 70% complete, with 1,300 construction workers housed on two floatels driving toward completion at the end of 2027 — next in line to ship Canadian LNG to Asia after LNG Canada started production last year. The US$8.8-billion project lands at exactly the right moment: the Middle East conflict knocked out roughly a fifth of the world’s gas supply, Qatar is extending force majeure into October, and Asian buyers are, in the words of one ambassador asked if his country wants Canadian LNG, “a hundred and fifty per cent” in. As Energy for a Secure Future chair Shannon Joseph puts it, the world keeps asking Canada for LNG — and it’s running out of patience. Her coalition’s new report tallies what building actually delivered for northern B.C.: average incomes in the Montney–Kitimat corridor up $19,000 a year by 2031 thanks to LNG Canada and Coastal GasLink, First Nations incomes up 159% since 2019, and B.C. natural gas royalties now exceeding mining and forestry combined. The lesson for policymakers in Victoria and Ottawa: every dollar of home-grown cost and delay is paid by us, not the customer.
THE NUMBERS — STATISTICS CANADA
Retail Trade, May 2026 — Released this morning. National sales rose 1.0% to $73.7 billion, up in all nine subsectors — and B.C. led every province at +2.1%, powered by vehicle sales, with Vancouver up a hefty 3.4%. Alberta was among the nine provinces posting gains. Core sales (excluding autos and gas) rose 0.9%, and the June flash estimate points to another 0.4% gain. A rare bright spot for B.C.’s private sector — though one month of car-buying doesn’t fix a structural slowdown. Statistics Canada
WORTH WATCHING
Kinew Opens the Door to a West–East Pipeline — Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says he’s “willing to entertain” the Smith–Ford pipeline pitch: 3,300 km from Hardisty to Sarnia, 500,000 barrels a day, all on Canadian soil, with a possible spur to the Port of Churchill. With Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe already on board, every province on the route is now at least at the table — a big shift for Alberta. Ontario’s feasibility study lands by year-end; the open question is whether any private builder steps up, or taxpayers carry it.
Tariff Deadlines Stack Up — The U.S. global 10% tariff (Section 122) is set to lapse Friday, and Washington’s new 50% tariff on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods — cement included — bites August 19. Carney and Trump have agreed to intensify negotiations; B.C. builders buying cement and Alberta shippers watching the carve-outs (energy, potash, critical minerals) have very different stakes in the outcome.
IN BRIEF
TSX Record — The composite hit a new all-time high near 35,500 Wednesday as investors shrugged off the latest tariff threats, lifted by oil and gold — resource strength doing the heavy lifting again.
Brookfield Buys Edmonton’s Gregg Distributors — The investment giant is paying $1.6 billion for the Alberta industrial supplier serving 20,000 Western Canadian customers — another vote of confidence in the province’s energy-services economy.