Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre holds a press conference at Petro Plastics Corporation Ltd. in Toronto on March 30.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has committed that if his party forms government, he will proceed with reforms the oil and gas sector has called for to protect Canada’s sovereignty and boost its economic standing in the face of threats to both by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Campaigning in St. John’s, Mr. Poilievre matched up five of his policy promises to a letter sent by energy chief executives ahead of the election campaign to major party leaders, urging changes to how the government manages natural-resource development in Canada.
Their requests: approval of major energy project applications within six months; the elimination of the carbon levy on large industrial emitters; the end of a cap on oil and gas emissions; the provision of loan guarantees to Indigenous communities for resource projects; and overhaul of two laws that the oil and gas sector says hold up development – the Impact Assessment Act, known as Bill C-69, and a law banning oil tankers on British Columbia’s north coast.
Mr. Poilievre said Tuesday he’ll do it all.
“Under my leadership, a new Conservative government will listen to our energy producers, the men and women who build the infrastructure and sell the oil and gas that drives our economy,” he said in making his announcement.
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Mr. Poilievre had previously promised to repeal the two bills, fast-track project approvals, lift the emissions cap and eliminate the carbon levy on industrial emissions.
His promise on loan guarantees for Indigenous communities was a new announcement.
The Liberal government had begun implementing a loan guarantee program, run through an existing Crown corporation. Mr. Poilievre said he would set up a “Canadian Indigenous Opportunities Corporation” under the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, similar to other Indigenous financial institutions.
“The Liberals want to control the loan guarantees for bureaucracy. We want to give control to First Nations so that they can make these investments,” he said.
The 14 chief executives, who represent the four largest pipeline companies and 10 largest oil and gas companies in Canada, wrote the letter in March.
They urged leaders to declare an energy crisis and use emergency powers to reduce regulations in the sector to help increase domestic production and boost Canadian sovereignty.
In laying out his promises Tuesday, Mr. Poilievre sought to draw a comparison both visual and literal between his and Mr. Carney’s approaches on natural-resource development: He used a large billboard with a checklist denoting what he would do and what he said Mr. Carney wouldn’t.
The Liberal Leader’s plan to leave the carbon levy in place for industry is similar to Mr. Trump’s tariff regime, Mr. Poilievre said.
“They both want to tax Canadian industry. Carney with a carbon tax, Trump with a tariff. I want neither,” said Mr. Poilievre, who is currently on a campaign swing through the Atlantic provinces and was scheduled to hold a rally in Prince Edward Island later Tuesday.
At a campaign announcement in Winnipeg Tuesday, Mr. Carney was asked whether he would repeal Bill C-69, which critics have labelled the “no more pipelines” bill.
“We do not plan to repeal Bill C-69, to answer your question directly,” Mr. Carney replied. He said his plan is to remove duplication of environmental assessments and other approvals for major projects that are in the national interest.
“We will follow, as the federal government, the principle of one project, one approval,” he said, adding that Ottawa would accept provincial environmental assessments.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Mr. Carney had told her in person just weeks ago that the bill is a barrier to large energy projects.
“If this law stays there will be few if any large scale energy infrastructure projects built in this country and Alberta and Saskatchewan will be cut off from international markets,” she said in a statement posted online.
“This means Canada will become more vulnerable to and overly dependent on the United States.”
Canada and the U.S. have one of the most integrated oil and gas markets in the world.
About 95 per cent of Canadian crude exports head to the U.S. With roughly 40 per cent of refineries there specifically tooled for the kind of heavy crude produced in Alberta’s oil sands, the U.S. imports more crude from Canada than from any other country.
But that has left Canada’s energy sector hugely reliant on its southern neighbour. Pipeline projects such as Energy East and Northern Gateway, proposed as ways to open up market access for Canadian crude, fell victim to a combination of legal challenges, regulatory hurdles, government intervention and market factors.
The oil and gas sector was Canada’s largest source of emissions in 2022, accounting for 31 per cent of the country’s total.
With a report from Bill Curry