The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance released an update on the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP) while reminding of the federal government acquisition in 2018 as one that is in the national interest. To date, Trans Mountain Corporation (TMC) has signed agreements with 81 Indigenous communities worth over $657 million, and the project has generated over $4.8 billion in Indigenous-based contracts. TMC has released its revised cost estimate and confirmed the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 and operational in early 2024. Minister Freeland committed that no additional public money will be spent as construction is completed and that a divestment process will be launched in due course. An assessment from BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities analysts confirms that third-party financing is a feasible option to fund the completion of the project and believes that both strategic and financial investors would participate in a divestment process to acquire the company once the project becomes operational. They also note that it is a prudent financial decision to finish construction of the approximately 20 percent remaining of the project and that TMC will be commercially viable upon project completion with expected to generate earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) of more than $2.4 billion per year when fully operational.
