Good morning. Today, we’re taking a closer look at Canada’s shifting position in the business of energy exports, which is explored in a new series that is zooming in on the country’s most important nation-building resource projects – and the trade infrastructure needed to make them happen. The Think Big series is in focus today, along with Canada’s upstage at the Oscars.
Up first
In the news
Defence: Ottawa is spending $200-million on a Nova Scotia spaceport to enable sovereign satellite launches
Oil: Prices eased on Monday in hopes that U.S. President Trump could find support to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic. They are rebounding this morning
Commentary: Bell Canada’s new data centre plan shows it has an AI strategy that can actually make money, writes Andrew Willis
LNG Canada's export facility, on Canada's Pacific coast in Kitimat, B.C. on Aug. 19, 2025.Jesse Winter/Reuters
In focus
How to nation-build
I’m Ryan MacDonald, energy and natural resources editor at The Globe and Mail.
There are two views of Canada’s liquefied natural gas journey. The first goes something like this: It’s been too long and arrived too late. The second is more nuanced and goes something like this: In a volatile world, Canada can be a reliable partner for energy supply to our closest allies and trading partners.
That second version is related to the first because, for Canada, it’s all about second chances. And it’s a take you’re hearing a lot lately from people such as Prime Minister Mark Carney because of the outbreak of a war with no clear end in the Middle East that is reshaping the way the world thinks about oil.
With this context in mind, The Globe’s Brent Jang, who has covered the LNG industry in Canada for the past decade, spoke with TC Energy Corp. CEO François Poirier about what the country needs to do now. TC has natural gas pipeline networks in Canada, the United States and Mexico. So, where is he putting his money?
President and chief executive officer of TC Energy François Poirier at the corporate headquarters in Calgary, on Feb. 24.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
“What I would say is that we want to allocate more capital in Canada,” Poirier said. “And I believe that there’s a risk mitigation that comes from diversification. And right now, the U.S. has become our largest business, and it’s also growing the fastest.”
Huh?
As Brent writes, TC’s CEO oversees billions in capital spending. So, if he’s not talking about the opportunities in Canada to invest, that’s a problem.
This story shows us that the road to Canada’s first cargo of LNG has been paved with optimism and failure. A decade ago, there were more than 20 competing plans to export LNG from British Columbia to Asia. A decade later, only one export terminal – LNG Canada in Kitimat – is up and running.
As we hinted in yesterday’s newsletter, Canada’s second chance is time-bound.
What I love about Brent’s story is that it traces a through line on Canadian energy from the flurry of pipeline construction in the 1950s to the talk of “nation-building” projects of today.
I think we need to talk more about that “golden age” of infrastructure of all kinds and what it takes to get big things done.
There is big political appetite to build major infrastructure in Canada in a bid to bolster the economy and diversify exports away from the U.S. The Prime Minister pledged last year to make Canada an energy superpower, and he has worked to reshape Ottawa’s relationship with the oil sector through an energy agreement with Alberta that included conditions for a new pipeline to the West Coast. Those negotiations are still under way.
On the LNG front, Carney included LNG Canada Phase 2, which would expand the LNG export facility at Kitimat on his list of the first five “major projects” his government would help fast-track. As the company that operates the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which transports natural gas from northeast B.C. to LNG Canada’s terminal, TC has a big part to play in that decision.
That’s why Brent’s story is kicking off our Think Big series.
A close-up view of the sprawling LNG Canada export terminal in Kitimat on April 30, 2025.Aaron Whitfield/The Globe and Mail
Over the next year, we’ll look at the energy and natural resource projects that need to get to built to make Canada thrive, along with the trade infrastructure to support them. Of course, we’ll also do what you expect The Globe to do: Identify the risks – regulatory, environmental, social and market.
A key element of this project is that we won’t necessarily follow Ottawa’s lead. Not all projects need to meet a “nation-building” standard to warrant a serious look. Our great hope is that Canadian business leaders, like the folks reading this newsletter, can help define what needs to get done and how to get there.
We are listening. It’s time for Canada to think big again.
Next up in the series: BHP Group Ltd., the world’s largest miner, is sinking $18-billion into its Saskatchewan potash mine. It’s a test case in how to dig deep and build big.
Charted
Short-lived relief
Inflation was showing signs of easing in February with a reading that came in at 1.8 per cent year-over-year, just under economists’ expectations for the month. Now, economists warn price relief will be short-lived as the war in the Middle East fuels surging energy costs.
Quoted
It was a beautiful evening for Canadian artists who have long proven that, despite our country’s relatively small market and overwhelming proximity to the Hollywood machine, we can outperform and outshine. And all without even a single Heated Rivalry mention!
— Barry Hertz, film editor and deputy arts editor
Canada’s Oscars triumph means nothing if we don’t keep supporting our filmmakers, writes Barry Hertz.
Up next
More files we’re following
Undersell: Canadian home sales fell further in February from multiyear lows in January, as steep fixed mortgage rates and persistently bitter weather exacerbated a soft market.
Overspend: Statistics Canada says the amount Canadians owed relative to their income climbed for the fifth consecutive quarter.
Earnings include: Elbit Systems Ltd. and Lululemon Athletica Inc., whose founder was most recently pushing the retailer to shake up its board and processes.
Morning update
Global markets were mixed as investors assessed the economic damage from a prolonged Middle East conflict while central bank interest rate decisions loom.
Wall Street futures were in the red after major North American markets closed higher yesterday. TSX futures followed sentiment lower.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.39 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.55 per cent, Germany’s DAX climbed 0.09 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.57 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.09 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.13 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 72.99 U.S. cents.