CALGARY — The CEO of Enbridge Inc. is calling for the creation of a federal Indigenous loan guarantee program.
Greg Ebel told the Toronto Region Board of Trade on Friday that Canadian energy companies are increasingly willing to offer equity ownership stakes to Indigenous communities whose traditional lands are crossed by pipelines and other infrastructure projects.
But he said Indigenous communities often don’t have the necessary access to capital.
Ebel said Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario all have programs offering financing to Indigenous communities for commercial partnerships.
But he said these programs aren’t enough in the case of large-scale infrastructure projects that span provincial boundaries.
Last fall, Enbridge sold an 11.57 per cent interest in seven northern Alberta pipelines to 23 First Nation and Métis communities — a $1.1 billion-deal that was backed by a loan guarantee from the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corp.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023.
Companies in this story: (TSX:ENB)
The Canadian Press
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