Energy
U.S. halt on LNG exports presents new opportunity for Canada

From the Fraser Institute
By Julio Mejía and Elmira Aliakbari
The Biden administration recently paused the approval of permits for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, which will force U.S. allies to explore alternative sources of LNG, opening the door for Canada. In fact, if Canadian policymakers remove certain regulatory hurdles, they can help position Canada as a leading global provider of clean and reliable natural gas while also helping create jobs and prosperity in British Columbia, Alberta and beyond.
Following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, President Biden committed to supplying steady LNG to the European Union, aiming to reduce reliance on Russian gas. By 2023, the United States had become the world’s top LNG exporter, with several European countries importing more than half of America’s LNG exports. However, President Biden also pledged to transition the U.S. away from fossil fuels so he’s paused LNG exports to appease his environmentalist constituency ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
But this pause comes at a crucial time for European countries grappling with energy shortages and rising prices. Last year, energy-intensive industries in Europe scaled back or halted production amid soaring energy prices, and Germany, Europe’s largest economy, narrowly avoided a recession caused by energy supply shortages. To keep the lights on, European countries have been forced to revert to coal-fired power plants, an energy source that contributes more CO2 emissions than natural gas.
Following the U.S. decision, European and Asian countries (including China) are exploring alternative LNG suppliers, again creating a potential void that Canada could fill. Japan and Germany have already turned to Canada.
Canada’s vast natural resources hold the potential to make a significant positive impact on global energy security, reliability, and emissions reduction by reducing reliance on coal. Despite possessing “the most prolific and lower-cost North American gas resources,” as emphasized by McKinsey’s recent report, development in Canada has encountered challenges largely due to government regulatory barriers. Presently, Canada lacks any operational LNG export terminals, unlike the U.S., which has 27 such facilities. The LNG Canada development in B.C. is slated to become Canada’s first operational facility, expected to begin exporting by 2025.
The absence of LNG export infrastructure in Canada has led domestic natural gas producers to depend on U.S. LNG facilities for exporting. However, with the recent halt on approving new LNG projects south of the border, there’s an urgent need for Canada to establish its own infrastructure if we’re going to seize this opportunity to be a global LNG supplier.
Forecasts indicate steady and growing global demand for LNG. McKinsey’s recent report anticipates an annual increase in global LNG demand of 1.5 per cent to 3 per cent to 2035. And according to the latest report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), limited new LNG production means supply will remain tight.
Despite promising opportunities, various government initiatives including CleanBC (the B.C. government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,) the Trudeau government’s emissions caps on the oil and gas sector, and federal Bill C-69 (which added more red tape and complexity to the assessment process for major energy projects) have created uncertainty and deterred, if not outright prohibited, investment in the sector.
Canada has an opportunity to provide clean and reliable natural gas to our allies, help improve the world’s energy security and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The federal and provincial governments must remove regulatory barriers to allow for the needed infrastructure and investment in the LNG sector, which will also provide jobs and prosperity here at home.
Authors:
Business
Senator wants to torpedo Canada’s oil and gas industry

From the Fraser Institute
Recently, without much fanfare, Senator Rosa Galvez re-pitched a piece of legislation that died on the vine when former prime minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in January. Her “Climate-Aligned Finance Act” (CAFA), which would basically bring a form of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) to Canada’s oil and gas sector, would much better be left in its current legislative oblivion.
CAFA would essentially treat Canada’s oil and gas sector like an enemy of the state—a state, in Senator Galvez’ view, where all values are subordinate to greenhouse gas emission control. Think I’m kidding? Per CAFA, alignment with national climate commitments means that everyone engaged in federal investment in “emission intensive activities [read, the entire oil and gas sector] must give precedence to that duty over all other duties and obligations of office, and, for that purpose, ensuring the entity is in alignment with climate commitments is deemed to be a superseding matter of public interest.”
In plain English, CAFA would require anyone involved in federal financing (or federally-regulated financing) of the oil and gas sector to divest their Canadian federal investments in the oil and gas sector. And the government would sanction those who argue against it.
There’s another disturbing component to CAFA—in short, it stacks investment decision-making boards. CAFA requires at least one board member of every federally-regulated financial institution to have “climate expertise.” How is “climate expertise” defined? CAFA says it includes people with experience in climate science, social science, Indgineuous “ways of knowing,” and people who have “acute lived experience related to the physical or economic damages of climate change.” (Stacking advisory boards like this, by the way, is a great way to build public distrust in governmental advisory boards, which, in our post-COVID world, is probably not all that high. Might want to rethink this, senator.)
Clearly, Senator Galvez’ CAFA is draconian public policy dressed up in drab finance-speak camouflage. But here’s what it would do. By making federal investment off-limits to oil and gas companies, it would quickly put negative pressure on investment from both national and international investors, effectively starving the sector for capital. After all, if a company’s activities are anathema to its own federal regulators or investment organs, and are statutorily prohibited from even verbally defending such investments, who in their right minds would want to invest?
And that is the BDS of CAFA. In so many words, it calls on the Canadian federal government to boycott, divest from, and sanction Canada’s oil and gas sector—which powers our country, produces a huge share of our exports, and employs people from coast to coast. Senator Galvez would like to see her Climate-Aligned Finance Act (CAFA) resurrected by the Carney government, whose energy policy to-date has been less than crystal clear. But for the sake of Canadians, it should stay dead.
Energy
Who put the energy illiterate in charge?

This article supplied by Troy Media.
Canada’s energy policy is being shaped by politicians who don’t actually understand how energy works. That’s not just embarrassing. It’s dangerous
Canada’s energy future is being held back by a critical obstacle: our elected officials don’t understand energy.
At all three levels of government, most politicians lack even a basic grasp of how our energy systems function. That ignorance isn’t just a knowledge gap—it’s a leadership crisis. Energy systems are evolving rapidly, and our leaders are ill-equipped to manage the complexity, tradeoffs and consequences involved. With few exceptions, their understanding is superficial, shaped more by talking points than substance.
By “energy systems,” I mean the complex web of technologies, infrastructure, markets and regulations that generate, distribute and manage power—from oil and gas to hydro, nuclear, wind and solar. These systems are deeply interconnected, constantly changing and central to every aspect of modern life. Yet the people making decisions about them often have little idea how they actually work.
This shows up frequently in public life: dodged questions, scripted answers, vague platitudes. Many politicians skate across the surface of issues with the thinnest understanding. The old adage “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing” perfectly describes Canadian energy politics today.
Decisions about energy directly affect household utility bills, climate goals, industrial competitiveness and grid reliability. Yet politicians tend to be tethered to the dominant energy source in their own region—oil and gas in Alberta, hydro in Quebec, nuclear in Ontario—without grasping how those systems connect or conflict. Canada’s energy landscape is fragmented, with each province operating under its own regulatory framework, infrastructure constraints and political pressures. That makes coordination difficult and systems-level thinking essential.
This isn’t a left-versus-right issue. It’s not oil and gas versus renewables. It’s a national failure to understand the integrated systems that power our lives and economy. Canada is, functionally, energy illiterate, and our elected officials reflect that reality. We flip a switch, pump gas, turn up the thermostat and rarely ask how or why it works, or what it costs in environmental or economic terms.
Take the Clean Electricity Regulations as one example. Introduced by the federal government to drive Canada’s electricity grid to net-zero emissions by 2035, the CERs require provinces to sharply reduce or eliminate fossil fuel-based power. But in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where coal and natural gas still dominate, those regulations landed with a thud. The federal government failed to account for regional infrastructure limitations, market structure
differences and technology readiness. The result? Immediate backlash, legal threats and political gridlock—not because climate action is unwelcome, but because the policy was crafted in a vacuum of systems-level understanding.
Adding to the problem is the dominance of bureaucrats and political handlers in shaping what passes for energy messaging. Speeches are often a patchwork of statistics and sanitized clichés, stripped of nuance or depth. Many politicians simply deliver what they’re handed, guided more by risk management than insight. The result is policy that’s disconnected from the realities it aims to change.
A handful of elected officials do have real-world energy experience, but even that is often narrow, based on one role or one sector. It rarely translates into the kind of broad, integrated knowledge needed to lead across multiple interdependent systems. The risks of this fragmented thinking are immense.
What’s needed is mandatory education—an energy information and insights toolkit for anyone seeking public office. This shared curriculum would cover how electricity and fuel systems work, the economics of energy markets, climate dynamics, environmental trade-offs and public policy principles. It should be grounded in both natural and social sciences and structured to develop systems thinking, so that decisions are informed by how energy technologies, markets and governance truly interact.
Imagine if thousands of politicians—urban and rural, left and right, federal and local—learned from the same textbook. Politics wouldn’t vanish. Disagreements wouldn’t disappear. But the debate would shift from tribal talking points to informed discussion.
And for once, Canada might start moving forward on energy, not with noise or paralysis, but with purpose.
Bill Whitelaw is a director and advisor to many industry boards, including the Canadian Society for Evolving Energy, which he chairs. He speaks and comments frequently on the subjects of social licence, innovation and technology, and energy supply networks.
Troy Media empowers Canadian community news outlets by providing independent, insightful analysis and commentary. Our mission is to support local media in helping Canadians stay informed and engaged by delivering reliable content that strengthens community connections and deepens understanding across the country.
-
espionage1 day ago
From Sidewinder to P.E.I.: Are Canada’s Political Elites Benefiting from Beijing’s Real Estate Reach?
-
Agriculture1 day ago
Unstung Heroes: Canada’s Honey Bees are not Disappearing – They’re Thriving
-
Economy2 days ago
Ottawa’s muddy energy policy leaves more questions than answers
-
Daily Caller1 day ago
Unanimous Supreme Court Ruling Inspires Hope For Future Energy Project Permitting
-
Energy1 day ago
Who put the energy illiterate in charge?
-
Alberta2 days ago
Unified message for Ottawa: Premier Danielle Smith and Premier Scott Moe call for change to federal policies
-
Alberta1 day ago
Alberta’s carbon diet – how to lose megatonnes in just three short decades
-
Business2 days ago
Canada’s critical minerals are key to negotiating with Trump