The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Ottawa is set to decide on whether to designate a new pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast as a project of national importance amid concerns about oil producers' appetite to fill the line and if long-term demand justifies the expenditure. The Globe's Emma Graney writes that the decision is expected next week, and coincides with a major push by the federal government to diversify exports away from the United States and soothe tensions with Alberta, which is holding a separation referendum on Oct. 19. If the pipeline gets the designation giving it a fast track through the regulatory approval process, oil producers would have to consider major new investments to boost production to fill the proposed 1,250-kilometre conduit. To do that, they would need to rely on promised new financial and regulatory frameworks from Ottawa and Alberta to enable substantial development, and would have to get moving on building a massive carbon-capture project, which Ottawa has tied firmly to the pipeline's future. Pembina has agreed to take a 10-per-cent interest in the one-million-barrel-a-day line aimed at getting oil to higher-priced world markets and contribute to the design.