Establish public naming process
Petitioners ask the Government of Canada to establish an open, transparent binding online naming process allowing any citizen or resident to submit and vote on the pipeline’s official name, subject only to basic decency standards.
Why we would sign this petition
- Gives taxpayers who will help finance and own the pipeline a direct, democratic say over its official name, aligning public ownership with public accountability.
- An open, transparent online vote could increase public engagement and legitimacy, making the project's identity reflect citizens' preferences rather than decisions by owners alone.
- A legally binding outcome would prevent later disputes over the project's name and ensure the public naming exercise has real effect.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Naming is largely symbolic and could distract from substantive issues like project costs and governance that may deserve priority attention.
- An open online vote could face practical problems—security, spam, identity verification and enforcing decency standards—raising doubts about fairness and feasibility.
- A binding naming process might politicize the project, entrench conflicts between federal and provincial owners, and sidestep more meaningful forms of public oversight or consultation.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the Government of Canada On July 2, 2026, the Government of Canada referred a proposed west coast oil pipeline to the Major Projects Office for potential designation as a project of "national interest," to carry approximately one million barrels of oil per day from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia; The Government of Canada, through the federally owned Trans Mountain Corporation, together with the Government of Alberta, would be majority owners of the pipeline, making it a publicly owned asset; Alberta's own submission estimates the project will cost between $35.2 billion and $43.7 billion, and the Government has confirmed that the cost to taxpayers remains to be negotiated; Canadians will help finance and own this infrastructure, yet have no say in the project, including what it is called; Public ownership should carry public accountability, and decisions about publicly owned assets should reflect the will of the citizens who pay for them; and The Premier of Alberta, whose government is a co-owner of the project, has publicly described direct democracy as "the ultimate form of democracy". We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to establish an open, transparent, and legally binding public naming process for the proposed west coast oil pipeline, in which any citizen or resident of Canada may submit and vote on proposed names online, the winning name to be adopted as the project's official name, subject only to reasonable standards of common decency and to no other restriction.
Government response
No government response is available yet.