Norway’s Bulk Infrastructure Group wants a Canadian partner to own most of a planned subsea cable between Europe and Canada. The cable would avoid the US.
Bulk’s founder, Peder Nærbø, set out the plan to Bloomberg on Monday. Much of Canada’s data and voice traffic now passes through US networks, the outlet reported. US threats against Canada have led Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to review that risk.
“It needs to be a Canadian sovereign cable system,” Nærbø, Bulk’s executive chair, told Bloomberg.
The project, called the Leif Erikson system, would start at the southern tip of Norway and cross 4,600km of the Atlantic.
It would land at Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador, then run about 1,900km underground through Quebec to Montreal.
Vendors have signed on, according to Bloomberg. But the route still needs studies backed by the EU and Canada. It also needs customers and funding. The build is expected to cost more than $ 620 million.
The land route also faces permitting hurdles and would need the support of Indigenous communities in Canada. In December 2025, Polish site Bankier.pl reported that Innu Development Limited Partnership and BlockLAB were Canadian partners on the project.
Only a few subsea cables link Canada directly to the rest of the world without passing through the US. None is owned by a Canadian company. The newest, Google’s Topaz cable, connects Canada and Japan.
Meanwhile, Bulk is already partly Canadian-owned. BGO, a subsidiary of Sun Life Financial, holds a 65% stake through two funds, Bloomberg reported. BGO first invested in Bulk in 2020.
Nærbø said Canada’s Major Projects Office, government investment vehicles, and some of the country’s largest telecoms providers have been in touch.
Industry Minister Melanie Joly’s department declined to comment on the project. Rogers and Telus did not respond to Bloomberg’s requests for comment, and BCE declined to comment.
The plan follows other moves by Canada to strengthen its own networks. In August, its Defence Investment Agency gave Telesat a C$2.3bn contract for military satellite links in the Arctic.
Next, the EU and Canada plan to back a study on new subsea links between Europe, Canada, and Asia, Bloomberg reported. They will meet at a summit in Montreal on October 29 and 30.