Canada's energy future need not begin and end with pipelines, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a major media interview Tuesday, just hours after King Charles III read a Speech from the Throne that envisioned the country as the "world's leading energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy."
In conversation with CBC's Power & Politics host David Cochrane, the PM "reiterated he believes the industry should not revolve solely around the conventional oil and gas pipelines that have long fuelled political debate out West," CBC reports.
"Carney said his new government will be focused on diversifying the energy sector beyond its roots in Alberta's oilpatch to include other, clean energy resources from across the country," the national broadcaster writes. "He did not rule out pipelines as part of the discussion, but said he doesn't believe most Canadians see those projects as the be all-end all option."
"It's remarkable. In some circles, this conversation starts and ends with pipelines," Carney told Cochrane.
"But that's what it has become politically," Cochrane replied.
"No, that is not what it's become politically," Carney retorted. "That is not what it's become for Canada. Canada as a nation."
"Canadians, yes, they want energy pipelines that make sense," the PM added. "They also want connections between our clean grids. They want actually less carbon, so they want carbon capture and storage... they want broader [mineral exporting] corridors, for example... that open up whole swaths of the country to new trade so that we are sovereign in the most important components of the future."
Last Friday, in what CBC described as a "boisterous speech" to a sold-out business audience in Calgary, newly-appointed Energy Minister Tim Hodgson stoked fears that climate impacts, environmental assessment, and Indigenous consent might be shunted aside in the major "nation-building" projects the government has pledged to pursue.
"Energy is power," Hodgson told participants. "Energy is Canada's power. It gives us an opportunity to build the strongest economy in the G7, guide the world in the right direction, and be strong when we show up at a negotiation table."
Hodgson pledged a two-year approval window for major projects, rather than five, declaring that "I want to be very clear. In the new economy we are building, Canada will no longer be defined by delay. We will be defined by delivery."
But while Calgary Herald columnist Chris Varcoe followed up Hodgson's remarks with a list of oil and gas projects that should be on Ottawa's priority list, two lawyers at Torys LLP see a different set of priorities taking shape.
"With Prime Minister Carney and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre offering contrasting climate strategies, the election outcome sets the course for how Canada navigates its climate transition," write Torys associate Caroline Marful and partner Tyson Dyck, in a post originally published by the Institute of Corporate Directors. "Carney's win signals continuity, but also renewal-and a sharpened focus on investment-driven climate action."
Marful and Dyck foresee the new government operating through executive and regulatory power if a minority parliament makes it more difficult to pass legislation, and list three "policy anchors and priorities" that Team Carney will likely pursue-stronger carbon markets through an enhanced industrial carbon pricing regime, advancing carbon dioxide removal technologies, and introducing a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAMs) as a tariff on carbon-intensive imports.
"Carney's platform promised the development of CBAMs as a protective measure for Canada's energy-intensive and trade-exposed sectors," they write. "However, CBAMs are diplomatically delicate. Without coordination among major trading partners, they risk sparking protectionist backlash."
Climate analysts also caution that CBAMs risk perpetuating historical inequities to Global South nations by shutting them out of trade deals among wealthier countries.
While a Canadian carbon border adjustment isn't likely to materialize in the near term, the Torys lawyers say, "the inclusion of CBAMs in the [Liberals' election] platform signals a maturing climate-trade agenda."
The post cites clean investment tax credits (ITCs) and the former Trudeau government's long-delayed cap on oil and gas sector emissions as "two additional flashpoints" to watch. In a blog post Wednesday, the Canadian Climate Institute identified industrial carbon pricing and the clean electricity ITCs as two of four quick wins the government should pursue in its first 100 days, along with methane regulations and a made-in-Canada climate taxonomy for the financial sector.
Source: The Energy Mix
