Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson says he’s confident there’s a market for Canadian liquified natural gas (LNG), as his government gears up to start announcing approvals for nation-building projects early in the fall.
But when asked whether his government is prepared to scrap some of the controversial environmental policies implemented by its predecessor, in order to move so-called nation-building projects forward, Hodgson wouldn’t say.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to turn Canada into the world’s leading energy superpower, and the energy minister says Canadian LNG will be a significant part of that.
“Our production is much closer to Asian markets. Our production is much cleaner than the American in terms of carbon footprint,” Hodgson said in an interview on The Vassy Kapelos Show, when asked whether his government is concerned about the United States simultaneously ramping up its LNG export capacity.
“And what I can tell you from the conversations that the prime minister has been having, the minister of foreign affairs has been having, the minister of international trade has been having, the conversations I’ve been having, our allies are very interested in Canadian LNG,” Hodgson added in the interview airing Tuesday across the iHeart Radio network.
When pressed on whether he believes there will be buyers for Canadian product give increased competition and expanded export capacity in the U.S., Hodgson told host Vassy Kapelos: “I know there are buyers.”
Canada has one major LNG export terminal up and running — LNG Canada, located in Kitimat, B.C. — which just began shipping Canadian gas in June of this year. There are currently six other LNG export projects in the works.
If all seven projects get built, Canada will be able to ship about 50 million tonnes of natural gas per year — about half of the current annual export capacity of the United States, which is also expected to increase significantly by 2030.
In June, Parliament passed Bill C-5 — dubbed the Building Canada Act by the Liberals — aimed at giving government sweeping new powers to approve major projects of national interest.
The legislation is a cornerstone of the Carney government’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods, with the prime minister often citing it as a key way to bolster the Canadian economy and insulate it from the United States.
Hodgson told Kapelos Canadians can “expect to see projects announced in the early fall.” He added he’s anticipating a “rolling set of announcements” as proponents come forward with projects that meet the five criteria set out by the government in its legislation.
“More customers, more shipments, more LNG export facilities, means more jobs for Canadians, more opportunities for Indigenous partnerships, and certainly a more economically secure country,” said Lisa Baiton, president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, in an interview with CTV News on Tuesday.
Baiton said that while her organization is “excited” about the possibilities that Bill C-5 opens up to development, she also believes Canada needs a more “pragmatic regulatory framework” compared to the last decade if it wants to attract investment.
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” she said. “Canada has very stringent regulations and industry practices that LNG projects operate (under), with some of the highest environmental standards, again, we really want to seize the LNG opportunity.”
Will Carney government scrap more Trudeau-era policies?
Pressed several times on whether the Carney government will maintain the same climate change objectives as those of former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government — such as the emissions reduction targets — Hodgson refused to say.
“The objective that we have is, as Canadians, to produce the best product we can possibly produce for world markets,” Hodgson said. “That’s low-cost, low-carbon production, and that’s what we’re doing.”
He added Canada should “be proud” that its LNG has the “lowest carbon footprint of any produced in the world.”
When asked again by Kapelos whether the federal government is willing to scrap certain policies — such as the goal set out by the Trudeau Liberals to reduce emissions to 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 — in order to ensure certain projects get built, Hodgson said he will “deal with” projects deemed in the national interest using Bill C-5.
“Again, I’m not going to talk about hypotheticals,” Hodgson also said, when asked a third time whether that means the emissions reduction target is on the table. “We’ll deal with them in the fall.”
Kapelos also pointed to specific irritants identified by the oil and gas industry, such as Bill C-69, which many Conservatives have dubbed the “no more pipelines act,” the tanker ban, which prevents certain vessels carrying oil from operating along parts of British Columbia’s coast, and a cap on oil and gas emissions.
“We’re focused on results, not how we get there, and we will deal with projects as they as they come up,” Hodgson also said. “I am quite comfortable that our bill, the Building Canada Act, will deliver for Canadians.”
When asked whether that means those policies — such as the emissions cap or tanker ban — could be suspended for the sake of a project, rather than eliminated entirely, Hodgson repeated that he wouldn’t “deal with hypotheticals.”
“Let’s wait for the early fall when we are ready to announce our projects,” he said again.
In an interview with CTV News on Tuesday, Canadian Climate Institute principal economist Dave Sawyer said even Canada’s “cleaner” LNG will result in “a lot of emission,” adding “the math is inescapable.”
“The challenge has always been to balance out economic growth, and really, emission-intensive resource growth, with policy that sort of bends the emission curve down,” he said. “And when you’re putting in these big, large, lumpy emission projects, you need some pretty strong policy to counter the emissions.”
Sawyer said he’ll be watching in the fall to see what kind of policies the Carney government presents to reduce emissions in a more meaningful and effective way, versus overemphasizing the actual target numbers.
With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello, Stephanie Ha, and Brennan MacDonald
