Mejia, Aliakbari: The new federal government must ignore the harmful energy

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While the full range of damage caused by US President Donald Trump’s war is still unknown, Canadians must understand that, with federal elections, short -sighted policies left here at home in a weak position.

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Oil and gas are the main exports in Canada and the United States are its primary destination. In 2023, nearly 97 % of oil exports in Canada went to our southern neighbor, and the United States is our only foreign market for our natural gas.

This is the focus of exports on one destination that gave the United States a great influence. For example, Canada exports natural gas at reduced prices – up to 60 % of what American producers receive in the American market. Likewise, our oil has been sold with less than what American producers receive, as price differences exceed 40 % in recent years.

The sale of our energy at reduced prices to the United States has cost each Canadians tens of dollars of missing revenues.

However, over the past decade, the Trudeau government has absent an endless opportunities to reduce the strong dependence on Canada on the United States and instead provided the organizational obstacles that hindered our energy sector and the limited access to new markets. To launch the oil and gas sector in Canada, the following government must reflect a full range of harmful energy policies.

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For example, the northern gate pipeline designed to transport crude oil from Alberta to the BC coast. In 2016, one year after assuming his post, the TRUDEAU government canceled this $ 7.9 billion project, which would expand Canada’s access to Asian markets significantly.

Then there are East and Eastern Mainline pipelines from Alberta and Saskatchewan to the East Coast. The government of Trudeau has made the project effectively unconditionally by introducing new regulatory obstacles, forcing the Transcanada Energy Company in the end to withdraw from the project, which would expand access to European markets.

The record is equally dark for natural gas export facilities (LNG), which can open access to foreign markets. Organizational barriers and timetables for long approval have been hindered by the Trudeau government in a large way to develop the Energy Sagoeni LNG project in Quebec, a liquefied natural gas repetition factory and the Pacific Northwist LNG in BC

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When it expels the opportunity to diversify our commercial partners, the government failed to seize it. In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, political leaders from Latvia, Ukraine, Germany, Greece and Poland turned to Canada in search of new liquefied natural gas supplies, but Trudeau insisted that “there is no work issue for physical carpets” and lost the opportunity to open new markets.

Finally, the C-69 draft law of the TRUDEAU government has established the massive uncertainty in project reviews and approvals by providing vague evaluation criteria, including “gender effects” for major energy projects including pipelines and liquefied natural gas export facilities. Indeed, according to a recent report, he analyzed 25 major projects that entered the federal government review process between 2019 and 2023, almost each project submitted stuck in the early stages (stage 1 or 2) of the four -stage process, which confirms the inefficiency of the review process.

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Meanwhile, the Canadian Trudeau C-48 draft exports to Asia are bound by banning large oil tankers from the northern coast in BC. The target emissions cover, which requires only 35 % of the oil and gas sector requires that greenhouse gas cuts less than 2019 by 2030, to reduce energy production, which limits Canada’s ability to meet global energy requirements.

During the upcoming election campaign, Canadians must demand hearing how (or if) each party will remove the barriers that hinder the development of energy projects and simplify approvals to open the unused capabilities of Canada. Or not, or not, Canada cannot undermine the main export sector with organizational barriers.

Julio Megia and Elmira Aliakbari are analysts at the Fraser Institute.

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