When highlighting his approach to developing Canada as an energy superpower, Prime Minister Mark Carney has repeatedly used the mantra “build baby build.” In the first few months of governing, Carney’s Liberals passed an omnipotent Bill C-5 that gave them unprecedent power to build necessary national energy infrastructure. The prime minister met with the country’s premiers and promised immediate action on projects of national interest – and made the promise to Alberta to support new pipelines. However, today, Carney’s public resolve seems to have been quintessential “pipeline politics” as the country is no closer to building pipelines, or any other energy infrastructure. What the past three months has clarified for Canadians is that the matter of building pipelines across this country is a lot about politics and little to do with building.
There was great fanfare and plenty of optimism expressed with the passage of Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act. Carney was going to use the hammer to fast-track national infrastructure projects. Carney stated, “I am confident that my government will do everything we can so that those projects can be built.” When he was with the premiers, he was bullish on pipelines, stating it is “highly, highly likely” that an oil pipeline will be on his initial national projects list. Carney went as far as to comment on overriding the oil tanker ban on the west coast: “We’re not going to have a project that gets oil to tidewater and it stays there… What C-5 creates is a lot of flexibility, and it creates a lot of flexibility for nation-building projects. And when I say projects, there’s an S at the end.”
Carney’s commitment piqued western Canadians’ imagination, and it conjured up the vision of new pipeline corridors from Alberta west to Prince Rupert, B.C., and east to Churchill, Manitoba. There was also mention of a “grand bargain” that would include the pipelines and new green investment into oil sands technology to “de-carbonize” the product. Looking back on that prime minister-premiers meeting in early June, the talk of energy sector development in western Canada was a very encouraging start to the Carney government’s efforts to jumpstart the country’s sagging economy.
Encouraging indeed, until it became apparent that it might have been just talk — a case of “big hat, no cattle.” Carney’s firm resolve to use his new hammer became conditional very quickly. First, the prime minister returned to Ottawa to make a media statement that he would “support” the construction of pipelines, “provided” there is a consensus among provinces. Then he made a second statement that his support would be conditional on a consensus among the provinces and First Nations. While Carney was clarifying his support, B.C. Premier David Eby stated he wanted to see the federal west coast tanker ban upheld for his province’s ports; Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak held a media conference to demand that “free, prior and informed consent” must be given by First Nations before any infrastructure projects can proceed; and, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew stated there would be no infrastructure projects in his province without full agreement of First Nations.
Federal energy minister Tim Hodgson then went on CBC News to clarify the prime minister’s clarification to state that all federal projects of national interest would have “Indigenous ownership as a standard, and they will need to honour our obligations to climate change.” Just last week, emerging from closed-door meetings with Canada’s Metis, the prime minister again underlined the conditions of swinging his Bill C-5 hammer, “The core to the Act, core to the objective, these projects must advance the interests of Indigenous peoples and they must contribute collectively to clean growth and to meeting Canada’s objective with respect to climate change.” Carney went on to say, “This law requires meaningful consultation with Indigenous peoples both in the process of determining which projects are in the national interest, and in the development of the conditions for each project.”
What does this all mean? Investors and companies looking at starting energy infrastructure projects in Canada, as it is now, 1) must have federal cabinet approval and support to by-pass the no-new pipeline law C-69, the west coast tanker ban, and other restrictive Trudeau-era laws; 2) meet federal green goals and net zero energy transition targets; 3) get the unanimous support of the provinces; and, 4) get the approval (and inclusion?) of First Nations people. Those investors and companies will also need to factor the additional expenses associated with the increased costs of the industrial carbon tax. So, it’s become an even greater hellish prospect to “build baby build” in Canada.
Enbridge, one of the energy companies that much hope was pinned on to lead the new era of investment and development in Canada, has made emphatic statements on the Carney Liberal’s new “fast-track” process. Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel stated, “The issue is one of government policy setting the conditions for that [a pipeline] to get investment to occur. Let’s be honest, the government has not done that yet, and it’s not clear they intend to, at least from our perspective.” François Poirier, the chief executive of another Albertan-based company, TC Energy Corp., was direct in saying the company’s returns south of the border “are meaningfully higher than in Canada” and he stated, “’We are going to be allocating capital predominantly in the U.S. until competitive projects in other jurisdictions present themselves that compel us to allocate capital elsewhere.”
As energy companies’ hope wanes for business conditions to change in Canada, Alberta environment minister Rebecca Schulz pulled no punches in signaling to the federal Liberals that the window is closing to attract new investment and economic development. In an interview with the Calgary Herald, Schultz says time is up for Carney and his brand of pipeline politics, “He has to deliver and I don’t think Albertans are going to accept anything else. He’s going to have to take action real quick because Albertans are certainly losing patience. I think while Albertans want to stay in Canada that isn’t at any cost…. This absolutely is not about tearing the country apart. This is Albertans stepping up to say we want to fix what’s broken.”
Schultz’s frustration showed, “Albertans are tired of being seen as Canada’s ATM. That’s certainly what it feels like, where we provide jobs and wealth here and in the rest of Canada and then we’re just not treated fairly…. He’s going to have to abandon these bad laws that stifle investment. Unfortunately, we’ve seen a lot of lip service. It’s time for the prime minister to be the prime minister. He needs to move fast. He needs to show Canadians and Albertans he’s heard their concerns. I’ll be honest. Every day that goes by, that optimism starts to fade. The ball is in Carney’s court.”
Still Alberta Premier Danielle Smith soldiers on, working hard to create the environment for new initiatives building energy infrastructure and further developing the Canadian oil and gas sector. In late July at the premiers’ summertime Muskoka Summit, Smith joined with two colleagues to announce a feasibility study for a west-east energy corridor that would include new pipelines. The envisioned economic plan would have oil and gas flow cross-country from the western provinces to refineries in the east, so that Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada would be less reliant on imported U.S. and Saudi oil and gas. Canada would also open up new opportunities exporting energy across the Atlantic Ocean.
Smith said of Alberta’s initiative with Saskatchewan and Ontario, “This is a defining moment for our country… This corridor will help get Alberta’s responsibly produced energy to markets across Canada and around the world. Alberta is proud to partner with provinces that share our bold vision for a stronger, more self-reliant Canada.”
While Smith was showcasing the study for an energy corridor, the federal opposition Conservative Party put the governing Liberals on notice that they intend to push for fast-tracking the construction of pipelines when parliament returns. They will introduce a motion for new legislation, a Canadian Sovereignty Act (CSA), that will repeal the Trudeau-era “Liberal growth-blocking laws.” The CSA will scrap C-69 “no more pipelines act”, C-48 oil tanker ban on the West Coast, the oil and gas emissions cap, Carney’s industrial carbon tax, the electric vehicle mandate, and the single-use plastic ban. The CSA will also include the Conservative election promise to exempt Canadians from capital gains tax when they reinvest their investment proceeds in Canadian companies and projects.
At a Calgary press conference, while campaigning in his Albertan by-election, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre explained that the motion will spur the government commit to the development of two major pipelines, a new liquified natural gas facility, and the highway necessary to open up northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire. The intent of the motion is to “get shovels in the ground on major nation-building projects between now and March 14th, the one-year anniversary of Mark Carney taking office.”
Poilievre observed, “Here in Canada nothing gets done because Liberals ban things from getting done. We’re proposing to legalize fast energy production, construction and export.”
In response to a question posed by Rick Bell of the Calgary Herald, Poilievre talked of pipeline politics and the prime minister’s latest posturing, “Mark Carney for the last ten years was a net zero, keep it in the ground, green fanatic. He said he wanted to keep at least half our oil in the ground. He testified against the Northern Gateway Pipeline. He supported all the carbon taxes. He publicly spoke in favour of the electric vehicle mandate to ban your gas and diesel-powered cars. He tried to present himself as some big change because he looks and sounds different than Justin Trudeau, but he has supported all the same policies.”
“What he is doing right now is ragging the puck, trying to drag people along into believing one day he will do something. But he hasn’t done anything other than hold a lot of meetings and make a lot of bold statements.”
Use of an omnipotent law – but with conditions. Heralded pronouncements – and then clarifications. Leadership – by consensus and multiple vetoes. It’s all as it has always been, perhaps worse, with Canada’s pipeline politics.
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
