The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is a Winnipeg based, independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit, research and educational institution whose mission is to explore options for the future by undertaking research and education that supports economic growth and opportunity. FCPP does not accept government funding.
Trucks loaded with joints of pipe intended to become the Keystone XL rumbled through Shaunavon in July, 2011. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Canada’s cancellation of major pipelines cost billions in economic growth, jobs, and exports, leaving it unable to meet global energy demand. Lee Harding argues that regulatory barriers crippled development and urges renewed fossil fuel expansion before opportunities vanish.
Canada has the oil and gas the world wants, but federal decisions keep stalling the projects needed to sell it
Canada would be unimaginably farther ahead today if it had done all it could to extract and refine fossil fuels and built ports and pipelines to ship them. Taking that path now could still prove lucrative. The alternative is continued economic stagnation.
In 2016, the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau cancelled the Northern Gateway Pipeline project. The 1,177-kilometre pipeline would have taken 525,000 barrels of oil daily to Kitimat, B.C., leading to an estimated $300 billion of economic activity over 30 years.
Regulators approved the pipeline in 2014, but the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that more consultation with First Nations was due under Canadian law. This ruling was an excuse enough for the federal government to cancel it.
The Energy East project would have transported 1.1 million barrels of oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Atlantic Canada, a boon for the West and for refineries in New Brunswick. The construction jobs along the 4,500-kilometre route would have also been substantial for the $15.7 billion project.
Despite submitting a thorough 30,000-page application, TC Energy abandoned the project in 2017, citing excessive regulatory hurdles, changing environmental review processes and a slump in commodity prices. Canada made it so difficult to get anything done that it missed the chance to facilitate tens of billions of dollars per year in potential exports.
- 0120 2026 SK oil show attendee0120 2026 SK oil show attendee
- 0118 IBEW 30 sec0118 IBEW 30 sec
- 0119 Steffes Group System III Ltd Complete Dispersal P0119 Steffes Group System III Ltd Complete Dispersal P
- 0115 SaskPower SASPO_2817_PLT_Recruitment_DIVERSITY0115 SaskPower SASPO_2817_PLT_Recruitment_DIVERSITY
- 0114 Prospera Bold Vision0114 Prospera Bold Vision
- 0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer
- 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 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
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
By 2019, Bill C-48 forbade oil tankers off the northern B.C. coast, while C-69 empowered the government to subject more project proposals to cabinet review. Then-premier of Alberta Jason Kenney coined C-69, “The No More Pipelines Act,” given its foreseeable impact.
In 2020, Teck Resources withdrew a $20.6 billion oil sands mine application, citing federal climate policy and investor pressure as the reason for its abandonment.
Strangely, upstream (production) and downstream (combustion) carbon emissions are considered in approvals of Canadian energy projects but do not apply to imports from other countries. The new Clean Fuel Standard also ignores scrutiny of upstream emissions. Federal regulation tilts the playing field against Canada.
These decisions have left Canada unable to respond to a surge in energy demand driven by geopolitical events. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left many countries scrambling for other sources of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as Europe reduced reliance on Russian gas after 2022. Germany, Japan, Poland, Ukraine, Greece, South Korea, the Philippines and the E.U. have expressed interest in Canadian LNG.
This demand is not theoretical. In February, Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Patnaik, told CBC, “On energy, there is an appetite which even Canada cannot fulfill and we are willing to buy whatever Canada is offering on crude, on LPG, on LNG,” Patnaik said, LPG signifying liquefied petroleum gas. India is one of the world’s fastest-growing energy markets and a major importer of oil and gas.
- 0120 2026 SK oil show attendee0120 2026 SK oil show attendee
- 0118 IBEW 30 sec0118 IBEW 30 sec
- 0119 Steffes Group System III Ltd Complete Dispersal P0119 Steffes Group System III Ltd Complete Dispersal P
- 0115 SaskPower SASPO_2817_PLT_Recruitment_DIVERSITY0115 SaskPower SASPO_2817_PLT_Recruitment_DIVERSITY
- 0114 Prospera Bold Vision0114 Prospera Bold Vision
- 0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer
- 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 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
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
Somehow, amidst this gong show, the $40-billion LNG Canada project in Kitimat, B.C., a joint venture led by Shell and international partners, was brought to completion. Trudeau himself called it the largest private sector investment in Canadian history.
The 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline carries natural gas from Dawson Creek, B.C., to the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat, B.C., and on to Asian markets. Thus, from a region where oil tanker traffic was restricted, 14 million tonnes of LNG will go annually to Asian markets, with expected additions of about $7.4 billion annually to the national economy and about $575 million annually to the B.C. government.
When world leaders came begging Canada for natural gas, Trudeau usually insisted there was no business case for east coast LNG facilities. He argued the projects lacked long-term contracts and sufficient private investment commitments. Instead, he tried to push hydrogen, even though doing so shifts focus away from readily exportable natural gas resources.
B.C. has an estimated 93 trillion cubic metres of natural gas resources, though Canada’s economically viable proven reserves—resources recoverable with current technology—are “only” two trillion cubic metres. At current prices, that has a value of $200 billion to $300 billion.
- 0120 2026 SK oil show attendee0120 2026 SK oil show attendee
- 0118 IBEW 30 sec0118 IBEW 30 sec
- 0119 Steffes Group System III Ltd Complete Dispersal P0119 Steffes Group System III Ltd Complete Dispersal P
- 0115 SaskPower SASPO_2817_PLT_Recruitment_DIVERSITY0115 SaskPower SASPO_2817_PLT_Recruitment_DIVERSITY
- 0114 Prospera Bold Vision0114 Prospera Bold Vision
- 0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer
- 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 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
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
Meanwhile, Canada’s oil reserves, most of which are in the oil sands, number 171 billion barrels. At US$70 per barrel or $95 Canadian, Canada’s oil reserves are worth $18.8 trillion.
Canada produces only 1.4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and owes nothing on the climate front. Its better and more lucrative contribution would be to share its conventional energy and offset more expensive and carbon-intensive forms of production used in booming regions of the world.
That reality contrasts with arguments for leaving resources undeveloped. In his 2021 book Value(s), Prime Minister Mark Carney claimed it was better for the world that some petroleum be left in the ground. Few countries would lose more than Canada by that approach.
Canada does not lack resources or demand. It lacks the will to act. Until that changes, it will continue to forgo growth, cede markets to others and accept economic stagnation by choice.
Lee Harding is a research fellow for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
- 0120 2026 SK oil show attendee0120 2026 SK oil show attendee
- 0118 IBEW 30 sec0118 IBEW 30 sec
- 0119 Steffes Group System III Ltd Complete Dispersal P0119 Steffes Group System III Ltd Complete Dispersal P
- 0115 SaskPower SASPO_2817_PLT_Recruitment_DIVERSITY0115 SaskPower SASPO_2817_PLT_Recruitment_DIVERSITY
- 0114 Prospera Bold Vision0114 Prospera Bold Vision
- 0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer
- 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 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
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001