Good morning. There’s an air of anticipation in Kitimat, B.C., as Canada’s first export terminal for liquefied natural gas gears up for production and shipments. LNG Canada is within weeks of having the first vessel load up with natural gas in liquid form and make the journey to Asia. More below, but first:
In the news
Trade: The U.S. and China agreed to de-escalate the trade war, raising hope that President Donald Trump might be open to negotiating further
Canadian Snowbird Act: Experts are warning that a U.S. bill to extend snowbirds’ visa-free stays could pose tax and financial hurdles
Oil and gas: Mark Maki, the head of Trans Mountain Corp., is optimistic a new pipeline to carry landlocked crude to tidewater can be built in the next decade
Exclusive: Some of the country‘s best-known sustainable-finance experts launch an effort to bolster transition plans for Canadian companies
In the know
Mark Carney to unveil two-layered cabinet today
According to a senior government official in the Prime Minister’s Office, about half of the team to be announced today will be made up of new faces.
- Two layers: A core inner group will have fewer than 30 ministers, with up to 10 additional junior ministers who will be called secretaries of state.
- To watch: One of the key portfolios to watch is who will serve as finance minister. The position is currently held by Quebec MP François-Philippe Champagne.
- To time: The Prime Minister and his new cabinet are to be sworn in by Governor-General Mary Simon at Rideau Hall at 10:30 a.m. ET.
- Next up: The House of Commons is scheduled to resume sitting the week of May 26.
LNG Canada chief executive officer Chris Cooper (left) and Teresa Waddington, vice-president of corporate relations, at the LNG Canada export terminal in Kitimat, B.C.Aaron Whitfield/The Globe and Mail
In focus
LNG Canada is poised to start exports to Asia
Hi, I’m Brent Jang, a Globe reporter based in Vancouver. I visited Kitimat recently to get a close-up look at the $18-billion LNG Canada terminal that is nearing completion after almost seven years of construction in an industrial area on the traditional territory of the Haisla Nation.
As the U.S. trade war intensifies, the Shell PLC-led project in northern B.C. will soon become Canada’s first LNG export facility, with large vessels poised to transport the fuel to markets in Asia.
In 2011, then-B.C. premier Christy Clark optimistically forecast three B.C. LNG export terminals would be operating by 2020. She also touted the prospect of enormous LNG riches during the 2013 B.C. election campaign.
But Canada has lagged far behind the United States in developing LNG export terminals. The first such facility in the lower 48 states began operating in 2016 and another seven U.S. sites have opened since then.
While LNG Canada is on the cusp of exporting its first cargo from Kitimat, now-defunct plans to ship from Prince Rupert are a reminder of the complexities that other companies faced when they sought to enter the fledgling LNG industry in British Columbia.
In 2015, I took a boat ride from Prince Rupert over to the Indigenous community of Lax Kw’alaams to investigate growing opposition to a proposal for an LNG megaproject nearby.
Voters in Lax Kw’alaams ended up overwhelmingly rejecting a benefits package from Pacific NorthWest LNG that included $1-billion spread over 40 years.
The proposal by Pacific NorthWest LNG, led by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas, posed a major threat to juvenile salmon habitat in Flora Bank, a sandy reef-like area next to Lelu Island in the estuary of the Skeena River.
For the vast majority of Lax Kw’alaams Band members, the risks to salmon far outweighed the potential benefits from building an LNG export terminal on Lelu Island.
Petronas, which abandoned plans for Pacific NorthWest LNG in 2017, acquired a 25-per-cent stake in LNG Canada in 2018.
In Kitimat, Haisla leaders have strongly supported LNG Canada and the Coastal GasLink project, the 670-kilometre pipeline across northern B.C. that will supply natural gas to the Kitimat export terminal.
There have been numerous protests by climate activists, Wet’suwet’en Nation hereditary chiefs and their supporters criticizing Coastal GasLink and fossil fuels. In early 2020, for example, demonstrators staged rail and highway blockades across the country in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose the contentious pipeline.
Two other energy projects in B.C. under construction are Woodfibre LNG near Squamish, and Cedar LNG in Kitimat. The Haisla own 50.1 per cent of Cedar and Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. holds 49.9 per cent.
Haisla Nation chief councillor Crystal Smith (left) and Mike Eddy, director of external affairs with Cedar LNG, at the Cedar LNG site along Douglas Channel in Kitimat, B.C.Aaron Whitfield/The Globe and Mail
Two prospects are Ksi Lisims LNG, an early-stage proposal backed by the Nisga’a Nation in northwestern B.C., and FortisBC’s Tilbury Island domestic operation in Delta, near Vancouver.
There is an existing small-scale plant on Tilbury Island that briefly exported a small amount of LNG in containers in the past, but FortisBC hopes to eventually get into the export game in earnest with an expansion of that facility.
During my recent trip to Kitimat, I also toured Rio Tinto’s massive aluminum smelter. Kitimat was carved out of the wilderness by Rio Tinto’s predecessor, Alcan, when it built the original smelter in the early 1950s.
Simon Pascoe, general manager of Rio Tinto’s aluminum smelter in Kitimat, B.C., tours the facility on May 1, 2025.Aaron Whitfield/The Globe and Mail
Kitimat’s industrial history helped pave the way for LNG Canada. Prince Rupert, on the other hand, relied on greenfield LNG proposals that effectively meant starting from scratch.
LNG Canada, whose Kitimat terminal is more than 98 per cent completed, is mulling expansion plans.
If those Phase 2 ambitions pan out, the Shell-led project could help fulfill the Canadian government’s Indo-Pacific economic strategy and position Canada as the gateway to greater transpacific trade while reducing reliance on exporting to the United States.
Up next: I will be writing an update about Cedar, after my interview with Haisla chief councillor Crystal Smith.
Charted
Dow ends up more than 1,100 points
Bein, Sierra/The Globe and Mail
Wall Street’s major indexes rallied sharply yesterday after the U.S.-China agreement to temporarily slash tariffs. The TSX also rose, but was held back by a decline in gold prices and interest rate sensitive stocks, which were hampered by a sharp rise in bond yields.
Bookmarked
On our reading list
Hike up: Apple is reportedly considering raising prices for its upcoming fall iPhone lineup.
Clear up: As a Biden-era “junk fee” rule takes effect, Ticketmaster says it will start to display the full price of a ticket.
Speed up: Ontario unveils plans that it says will quicken housing and transit construction.
Callout: Have you encountered any issues when crossing the U.S. border? We want to hear about it.
Morning update
Global markets lost some of the previous day’s momentum as euphoria over thawing U.S.-China trade tensions gave way investor concern about the standoff’s long-term economic impact.
Wall Street and TSX futures were down.
Brent crude futures gained 50 US cents to US$65.46 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate crude was up 53 US cents at US$62.49.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.21 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.22 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.097 per cent and France’s CAC 40 increased 0.076 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.43 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.87 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 71.47 US cents.