New Delhi, July 3 -- CALGARY - The oil sands of northern Alberta are among the most landlocked major energy deposits on Earth. Nearly all of the crude they produce crosses a single border to reach refineries on the United States Gulf Coast, a configuration that has handed Washington leverage over Canada's largest export industry every time trade tensions rise. On Thursday, Canada announced it intends to build a way out.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith jointly unveiled a framework for a new bitumen pipeline running from Alberta to British Columbia's Pacific coast, targeting a capacity of one million barrels per day. The announcement, paired with a multibillion-dollar memorandum of understanding between Ottawa...