Crude oil tankers SFL Sabine, left, and Tarbet Spirit are seen docked at the Trans Mountain Westridge Marine Terminal, where crude oil from the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline is loaded onto tankers, in Burnaby, B.C., in June, 2024.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
A group of Canadian energy chief executives is calling on the country’s leaders to declare an energy crisis and use emergency powers to reduce regulations in the sector, actions they say will increase domestic production and boost Canadian sovereignty.
The 14 CEOs, representing the four largest pipeline companies and 10 largest oil and gas companies in Canada, wrote to the four main political party leaders in a letter released Wednesday, ahead of the federal election campaign.
While the letter does not name specific projects, it includes a short list of policy changes the CEOs say would help attract capital investments in areas such as increased exports of liquefied natural gas.
“Most of the political leaders at the federal and provincial level are reaching out to all of us, asking: What’s a better way forward?” said Enbridge Inc. CEO Greg Ebel in an interview. “So we think this is a constructive addition.”
The escalating trade war between Canada and the United States is quickly shifting the political landscape in this country, particularly in relation to the energy sector. Both the governing Liberals and opposition Conservatives, who are neck and neck in the polls, have announced policy changes that move away from some key existing climate initiatives designed to reduce carbon emissions in favour of boosting economic growth.
Projects that were once viewed as political non-starters, such as new pipelines, are suddenly being widely discussed as options to reduce Canada’s economic dependency on the United States.
Mr. Ebel discussed the letter’s recommendations with The Globe and Mail on Tuesday, along with TC Energy CEO François Poirier and Adam Waterous, executive chair of the board of directors for Strathcona Resources Ltd., an oil producer that has expanded rapidly in recent years through a series of acquisitions.
The list of recommendations include overhauling two laws approved in 2019 that are unpopular with the energy sector: the Impact Assessment Act, known as C-69; and a law that imposed an oil-tanker ban on British Columbia’s north coast.
The CEOs are also calling for a pledge to approve major projects within six months of application; eliminating the carbon levy on industrial emitters; eliminating “the unlegislated cap on emissions”; and providing loan guarantees to encourage Indigenous co-investment in new projects.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has long criticized the Liberal government’s climate policies and pledged Monday that he would eliminate the carbon levy on industrial emitters. He has previously pledged to scrap the two environmental laws listed by the CEOs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, the new Liberal Leader, eliminated the federal fuel charge, also known as the consumer carbon tax, on his first day in office Friday. Mr. Carney said he will be revising the industrial carbon levy. But he also said this week that the European Union and other markets are imposing trade policies that will require Canada to maintain a price on carbon.
The CEOs acknowledge that they’ve made these recommendations before and that implementing them would make it harder for Canada to meet its own greenhouse-gas emissions. However, they argue that global politics has changed and it makes more sense for Canada to focus on technology and exports that will reduce global emissions by replacing dirtier sources of energy.
Last year, Strathcona entered into a $2-billion agreement with Ottawa’s Canada Growth Fund to build carbon capture and sequestration facilities at its oil sands operations. Under the arrangement, costs will be split 50-50, and Mr. Waterous has said his company will not demand that CGF guarantee a carbon price to complete the projects. Instead, Strathcona will essentially guarantee a fixed price on the carbon, which will shore up the costs and hedge against future carbon tax obligations.
The letter’s signatories also include Murray Edwards, the billionaire executive chair of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., and an influential energy, mining and sports financier.
The CEOs are calling for streamlined approvals for major infrastructure projects, as they weigh the impact of a more adversarial trade relationship with the United States, by far their largest export market. U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed lower tariffs on Canadian energy than other imports, but the duty is still set at 10 per cent. Meanwhile, his administration has relaxed or repealed numerous environmental regulations in a quest for what he terms energy dominance.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said last week that she would prefer a more harmonious relationship with the U.S. But if that does not happen, she said, Canada should consider several new locations to export oil and gas, including Churchill, Man., and the East Coast.
Emissions from the oil and gas sector accounted for 31 per cent of Canada’s total in 2023, according to an estimate of upcoming national figures conducted by the Canadian Climate Institute think tank. That would be an increase of 1 per cent from 2022, extending a long-running trend of steadily rising oil and gas emissions while other sectors reduce them.
The institute said that, given the trend in oil and gas, Canada is not on track meet its 2030 target of a reduction from 2005 levels of 40 to 45 per cent.
Mr. Poirier said the point of the letter is not to revive any specific projects, such as the Energy East pipeline, but rather to spur a range of new energy infrastructure.
“It’s about having a regulatory framework that attracts capital and allows us to look at what makes the most sense in the current environment. And I can speak to the gas side, and I think LNG export off the West Coast is a huge opportunity,” he said.