The House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources met to study energy exports. Appearing were Gurpreet Lail, President and CEO of Enserva; Stephen Buffalo, President and CEO of the Indian Resource Council Inc.; and officials from the Department of Natural Resources (Drew Leyburne, Kimberly Lavoie, Erin O'Brien) and the Canada Energy Regulator (Darren Christie).
Gurpreet Lail said Canada's policy framework makes it one of the least attractive energy investment destinations, citing the Impact Assessment Act, the tanker moratorium and the federal industrial carbon price as barriers. She recommended setting shorter timelines for nationally significant energy infrastructure, removing or reforming the tanker moratorium, and ensuring industrial carbon policy does not hamstring production. She argued that without these changes, Canada cannot compete with the United States, where projects can be completed in four years versus 15 years in Canada, and noted that a major energy company told her it is not even looking at Canada.
Stephen Buffalo said first nations have become partners in pipelines through equity and loan guarantees, with indigenous groups now owning interests in over 5,000 kilometres of pipelines. He said building a new northwest export pipeline with majority indigenous support is achievable if it starts with relationship-building and good-faith conversations, and he asked the federal government to do the same. He noted that the Trans Mountain expansion and Coastal GasLink were built with majority indigenous support and are operating safely.
Drew Leyburne said the government is expanding market access through the memorandum of understanding with Alberta, which anticipates a new privately funded east-to-west pipeline application by July 1, and through budget 2025 measures including a $5-billion trade diversification corridors fund and extended LNG export licences to 50 years. He said Canada has committed to producing an additional 140,000 barrels per day starting this month to help allies facing uncertainty, and that if all planned LNG projects proceed, Canada could export up to 100 million tonnes of LNG annually by the 2040s.
Darren Christie presented the Canada Energy Regulator's "Canada's Energy Future 2026" report, which shows crude oil production growing in the short term across all scenarios but diverging by 2050, from 12% below 2024 levels to 18% above. He said natural gas production could rise from 19 billion cubic feet per day to between 21 and 32 billion cubic feet per day by 2050, driven largely by LNG exports, but that under all scenarios most crude oil exports would continue to go to the United States if existing pipeline infrastructure is used as it is today.
Kimberly Lavoie said the port of Churchill is on track to become a four-season port, with opportunities for indigenous equity ownership in a potential natural gas pipeline, the railway and the transportation system, and that conversations are ongoing with the Canada Infrastructure Bank and the indigenous loan guarantee program.
Erin O'Brien said the 50-year LNG export licence extension in budget 2025 is expected to make LNG projects more competitive, and that the government is working with provincial counterparts and industry to set conditions for market diversification, including through the Major Projects Office and the MOU with Alberta. She confirmed that Canada remains tied to global oil pricing, so increased domestic production would not lower prices at the pump.
The committee heard questions about the impact of cancelled pipeline projects, with one member arguing that killing energy east and northern gateway weakened Canadian sovereignty and left the country more dependent on the United States, while another member noted that energy east was withdrawn by TransCanada for economic reasons. Officials said they could provide data on industry infrastructure investments and on the process for defining protected areas under the 30% land protection target.
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