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ESG: The Use of Non-Financial Metrics by the Investment Industry is a Lawsuit Waiting to Happen

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From the Fraser Institute

By Bryce Tingle

Relying on deeply flawed ESG (environment, social and governance) ratings is incompatible with investment fiduciaries’ legal obligations

ESG ratings discourage companies from growing

The ESG ratings industry is an expensive distraction for public companies. It provides, in the form of low scores, a cudgel for activists, outsiders, and shareholders to use against companies who refuse to invest in improving their scores, although these investments are a waste of resources because the scores measure nothing useful. This makes Canada’s public markets much less appealing for companies considering listing their shares. In turn, for a private company that seeking an exit to investors, this makes selling the company to a larger competitor more attractive. As
many of these buyers are foreign (especially in advanced industries like technology and pharma) innovative Canadian businesses do not scale up in this country (Tingle and Pandes, 2021: 10). The choice of innovative businesses to sell themselves, rather than go public, is very bad for Canada.

ESG ratings obscure the contributions companies make to society

The ESG ratings agencies perpetuate a harmful lie about the ways in which companies contribute to the growth and success of Canadian society. Companies create the wealth we enjoy (and use for various public purposes), they employ us, and they provide us with the goods and services
we need. Companies should be celebrated for these contributions to our society and not asked to solve social problems unrelated to their competitive activities in various markets. Their failure to deliver on these social expectations will generate greater levels of distrust in Canadian institutions.

ESG ratings are a false alternative to legislation

In practice ESG has come to be seen as a valid alternative to government regulation for solving certain kinds of social and environmental problems. As we have seen, it is incapable of doing so and is not even really intended to do so. The public is taking investment managers’ marketing copy and applying it to really serious problems.

Again, the inevitable failure of ESG to solve these problems will breed cynicism, but it also distracts us from the kinds of regulation that will
actually accomplish the social and environmental goals we have for our society.

If a fund claims to invest based on ESG considerations, the fund managers should have to show their own work and demonstrate it is rationally related to the ESG outcomes promised to beneficiaries. Merely following deeply flawed ESG ratings is, as we have seen, not acceptable. We do not tolerate fraud elsewhere in our capital markets; there is no reason to tolerate it in the claims investment funds make in order to raise money from retail investors.

A Lawsuit Waiting to Happen: The Use of Non-Financial Metrics by the Investment Industry

  • Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) scores are sold to investment fund managers to assist them in making investment decisions. The scores are generated by a large industry of third-party firms and embedded in ratings, rankings, and indices.
  • The various elements in ESG scores stand in contrast to the traditional financial metrics relied upon by previous generations of investors.
  • Can investment fund professionals, who manage the wealth of other people, legally rely on ESG data in making their investment decisions? Over 88% of fund managers overseeing US$3.16 trillion of investment funds purport to use these ESG scores, a problem if the scores are inaccurate.
  • A decade of careful investigation in dozens of empirical studies has found:
    • ESG funds market themselves as advancing environmental and social objectives, but the ESG ratings those funds depend on are explicitly not about protecting the earth and society from the impact of corporate behaviour, but protecting the corporation from society.
    • Turning the welter of complex criteria into the simplistic ratings sold to investment funds requires judgement calls about what is material for a company or industry, and how to weigh various factors in coming up with a final score.
    • ESG ratings of the same company vary widely from one rating agency to another, demonstrating low validity and suggesting the ratings are not measuring anything real.
    • ESG ratings fail to predict future environmental and social performance, such as the exposure of a company to government fines, labour actions, or pollution violations.
    • ESG ratings of companies do not predict future operating performance or the trajectory of stock prices.
    • ESG ratings do not correlate with reduced investment risk.
    • Corporate disclosure of ESG-favoured information seems, ironically, to be connected to less ethical and more self-interested managerial behaviour.

Click here to read the report (20 pages)

Bryce Tingle

N. Murray Edwards Chair in Business Law, University of Calgary

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Business

Looks like the Liberals don’t support their own Pipeline MOU

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From Pierre Poilievre

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has called a vote in support of Mark Carney’s Pipeline MOU with the province of Alberta.
Surprisingly Liberal MP’s are not supporting their leader’s MOU meaning if there’s an election in the near future, Canadians will know that the Liberal government actually voted against their own MOU with the province of Alberta.

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Business

Canada Can Finally Profit From LNG If Ottawa Stops Dragging Its Feet

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From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Ian Madsen 

Canada’s growing LNG exports are opening global markets and reducing dependence on U.S. prices, if Ottawa allows the pipelines and export facilities needed to reach those markets

Canada’s LNG advantage is clear, but federal bottlenecks still risk turning a rare opening into another missed opportunity

Canada is finally in a position to profit from global LNG demand. But that opportunity will slip away unless Ottawa supports the pipelines and export capacity needed to reach those markets.

Most major LNG and pipeline projects still need federal impact assessments and approvals, which means Ottawa can delay or block them even when provincial and Indigenous governments are onside. Several major projects are already moving ahead, which makes Ottawa’s role even more important.

The Ksi Lisims floating liquefaction and export facility near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, along with the LNG Canada terminal at Kitimat, B.C., Cedar LNG and a likely expansion of LNG Canada, are all increasing Canada’s export capacity. For the first time, Canada will be able to sell natural gas to overseas buyers instead of relying solely on the U.S. market and its lower prices.

These projects give the northeast B.C. and northwest Alberta Montney region a long-needed outlet for its natural gas. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing made it possible to tap these reserves at scale. Until 2025, producers had no choice but to sell into the saturated U.S. market at whatever price American buyers offered. Gaining access to world markets marks one of the most significant changes for an industry long tied to U.S. pricing.

According to an International Gas Union report, “Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade grew by 2.4 per cent in 2024 to 411.24 million tonnes, connecting 22 exporting markets with 48 importing markets.” LNG still represents a small share of global natural gas production, but it opens the door to buyers willing to pay more than U.S. markets.

LNG Canada is expected to export a meaningful share of Canada’s natural gas when fully operational. Statistics Canada reports that Canada already contributes to global LNG exports, and that contribution is poised to rise as new facilities come online.

Higher returns have encouraged more development in the Montney region, which produces more than half of Canada’s natural gas. A growing share now goes directly to LNG Canada.

Canadian LNG projects have lower estimated break-even costs than several U.S. or Mexican facilities. That gives Canada a cost advantage in Asia, where LNG demand continues to grow.

Asian LNG prices are higher because major buyers such as Japan and South Korea lack domestic natural gas and rely heavily on imports tied to global price benchmarks. In June 2025, LNG in East Asia sold well above Canadian break-even levels. This price difference, combined with Canada’s competitive costs, gives exporters strong margins compared with sales into North American markets.

The International Energy Agency expects global LNG exports to rise significantly by 2030 as Europe replaces Russian pipeline gas and Asian economies increase their LNG use. Canada is entering the global market at the right time, which strengthens the case for expanding LNG capacity.

As Canadian and U.S. LNG exports grow, North American supply will tighten and local prices will rise. Higher domestic prices will raise revenues and shrink the discount that drains billions from Canada’s economy.

Canada loses more than $20 billion a year because of an estimated $20-per-barrel discount on oil and about $2 per gigajoule on natural gas, according to the Frontier Centre for Public Policy’s energy discount tracker. Those losses appear directly in public budgets. Higher natural gas revenues help fund provincial services, health care, infrastructure and Indigenous revenue-sharing agreements that rely on resource income.

Canada is already seeing early gains from selling more natural gas into global markets. Government support for more pipelines and LNG export capacity would build on those gains and lift GDP and incomes. Ottawa’s job is straightforward. Let the industry reach the markets willing to pay.

Ian Madsen is a senior policy analyst at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

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