In May 2022, it was revealed that Canada’s six largest banks – RBC, TD, Scotia, CIBC, BMO, and National Bank – financed a $10 billion loan to cover increasing Trans Mountain costs after the federal government approved a loan guarantee. This move demonstrates a significant step backwards, at a time when we should be actively divesting from fossil fuel projects and investing in a clean and just future.

These recent actions tell us that the banks continue to make false promises while committing to projects that violate Indigenous rights and fuel climate catastrophe. While 18 insurers have already cut ties with TMX, the Big Banks have invested billions more into the most expensive tar sands project in Canadian history. This is the second project (the first being the Coastal GasLink Pipeline) that the banks have signed onto that is overbudget and has prompted intervention from the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) about the treatment of Indigenous peoples on their territory.

Furthermore, it was revealed that the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is no longer considered profitable by the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Previously, TMX was justified because it was assumed to have 100 years of profitability, which is no longer the case.

Now, organizers across so-called Canada will come together for a TMX Week of Action in July, calling on Canada’s biggest financial institutions to stop propping up dirty fossil fuel projects and instead invest in our futures.