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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Regina on Jan. 10, 2019. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Possible Canadian energy policy directions to pursue for better collaborations
By Maureen McCall
North of the border in Canada, nine years of policies that favoured energy transition have had negative impacts on Canadian industry. Unlike the U.S., in Canada environmental activists are very close to members of parliament, either as an elected federal official like MP and ex-Greenpeace activist Steven Guilbeault or as close advisors to the Prime Minister like Gerald Butts (previously CEO of WWF-Canada) and Mark Carney, co-chair of GFANZ as mentioned earlier in Part 1. In addition, many of the Net Zero policies have favoured industries in the central provinces of Ontario and Quebec where the majority of the voters reside that elected current federal government officials. This has exacerbated a climate of political alienation certainly for Saskatchewan and Alberta, the western provinces that are very resource-rich and receive no money from Federal transfer payments of a record $26 billion in accumulated taxes – a large portion of which they have paid to the federal government. By far the biggest transfer payment of $13 billion goes to one province alone – the province of Quebec.
After nine years of policies implemented by the Trudeau government, Western alienation has risen dramatically with calls several times during the last decade to seek separation. Ironically, in the province of Quebec, there is a rising tide of calls for separation from Canada as well. The Trudeau government also formed a pact with the NDP members of parliament to force approvals of policies – many to enact their Net Zero commitments and climate plans. Many of the policies implemented increase onerous tax regulation and with Trudeau’s recent retirement as Prime Minister and proroguing of parliament, those policies will go unaddressed.
So what is the way forward for policy for Canada and the U.S. being such close economic partners in a post-Trudeau world?
How quickly can Canada reverse damaging and divisive policies and avert the negative effects of overblown rhetoric?
Perhaps an approach promoting economic restoration without exaggerated rhetoric and without demonizing or shaming the parties involved could be the sane and sober way forward for policy and discussions.
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The path forward post-Trudeau could focus away from the agenda of the last nine years and focus on bipartisan policies that would heal the divisions within and beyond the Canadian/U.S. border.
Bipartisan policies that promote mutual economic interests for both the Canadian and U.S. public, and the interests of the divided provinces within Canada could be productive.
Bipartisanship would promote the cooperation of the moderates in the two major political parties of both countries – Conservatives and Liberals in Canada and the Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Unbelievably, those moderates do exist even though they have been quite quiet in the last decade and they could be the solution to support some of the following policy ideas.
Bipartisan policies on energy would certainly involve financial stimulus of increasing development of Canadian natural resource production, critical minerals, technology and data centers, LNG and pipelines.
In her Jan 6th press conference, Alberta premier Danielle Smith proposed a partnership with the U.S. to double Canadian oil and gas production and increase exports to the U.S. promoting interprovincial collaboration as well as collaboration with the U.S.
Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean was a bit more direct in calling for policy change at the federal government level, saying, “We need a federal government that will be a partner in responsible energy development not bent on shutting it down.”
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A focus on increasing the development of Canadian natural resource production would entail a reform of policies governing and excessively delaying the permitting of national energy projects at the federal level as well as continued focus on tax reduction. Rolling back the carbon tax increase that will take effect on April 1 is a critical policy change to pursue. It will be difficult with parliament currently prorogued and not expected to resume until near the end of March. This policy would affect all the provinces and would be a good bipartisan step to unite them.
Action on immigration policies that are extremely out of date and have not only created huge internal problems within Canada but have also become a sore spot with the U.S. at the border must be addressed to preserve bipartisan collaboration with the U.S. Canadian policymakers could stop aligning so closely with the EU – and stop implementing some of the counter-productive policies that have come out of the EU. They could distance themselves from GFANZ and the banking alliance promoted by Mark Carney. The immediate adoption of messaging that is more pro-Canadian prosperity when addressing energy issues is paramount.
Eric Nuttall, partner with Ninepoint Partners LP, speaking to Bloomberg identified some of the most prosperity-antagonistic messaging that Trudeau has made over the last 10 years such as commenting that Canada “must phase out the oil sands”. Policies to reverse Trudeau’s actions to block pipelines to get Canadian resources to international markets are necessary. Reversal of Trudeau’s ban of oil tanker traffic on the North Coast of British Columbia in 2015 that effectively killed the Northern Gateway Pipeline could be considered.
Changes to Bill C-69 which made it impossible to build another pipeline would be necessary. More recently Bill C-59, the anti-greenwashing bill has uncertainty and ambiguity of phrasing that needs to be reviewed as it allows the imposition of significant monetary penalties. As reported by Bloomberg, an accumulation of antagonistic policies has prevented foreign capital investment in Canada and prevented investment in Canadian energy stocks. In that report, Eric Nuttal also referred to the announcement that Trudeau was going to step down as the beginning of the elimination of political risk being applied to Canadian stocks.
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- 0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
- 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
- 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
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Political risk has caused a lack of funds from flowing to Canadian energy stocks – fear of policies such as the emissions cap announced in November 2024 (which thankfully is dead on arrival this coming year in 2025), or fear of carbon taxes on Canadian producers even though they produce one of the cleanest barrels globally. Canada could stop making their oil and gas producers uncompetitive by taxing them relative to foreign producers. With the slowdown of shale growth in the U.S., global energy investors recognize that U.S. companies may be unable to grow further and are realizing that Canadian companies have an abundance of reserves and strong balance sheets after years of deleveraging. They are seen as committed to low or no growth and maximizing cash flow to buy back shares so Canadian stocks will end up trading at a premium to their global peers. Canadian oil sands are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries of this interest from global investors. Canada is already seeing intense interest from data center interests to create long-term sector growth for natural gas. Demand for oil, natural gas and coal are at all-time highs and the necessity for 24-7 uninterruptible power remains high. With a multi-year bull market predicted, calls are for more meaningful LNG development policies in Canada. In response to these market conditions, the U.S. is almost doubling their LNG demand between 2025 and the end of 2030. Once again bipartisan policies that promote affordable, reliable and secure energy to both Canada and the U.S. as Chris Wright suggested are recommended – an attitude Wright calls “energy sobriety”.
In conclusion, it seems Canada and the U.S. can both learn from mistakes and overemphasis on energy transition and also learn from their wins in bipartisan collaboration. Wise leaders will ignore the bluster and political posturing and seek the sane and sober policy discussions that will ultimately prevail.
Maureen McCall is an energy professional who writes on issues affecting the energy industry.
- 0088 WBPC_2025_30SEC_PROMO0088 WBPC_2025_30SEC_PROMO
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
- 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
- 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
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