QUESTION PERIOD — Environment and Climate Change
Liquefied Natural Gas
May 25, 2021
Honourable senators, my question is also for the government leader in the Senate. Last week, Australia’s Woodside Energy announced its decision to sell its entire 50% stake in the Kitimat LNG Project in northern British Columbia. When Chevron announced its intention to sell its 50% stake in this project back in December 2019, I raised this matter here in the Senate.
Chevron has since announced that it will no longer fund work on this project. This is terrible news for my province and our country as Kitimat LNG is a $24-billion project that would support over 4,000 jobs. The First Nations Limited Partnership comprising 16 B.C. First Nations has also expressed their great disappointment.
Leader, the Trudeau government’s anti-energy policies and rhetoric have driven away major projects across Canada, and today the future of Kitimat LNG looks absolutely bleak. How many more projects will fail under your watch?
Thank you for your question. Regrettably and with respect, I can’t accept some of the assumptions in your question. The government’s policies are not killing projects. On the contrary, this government has supported not only a number of projects in particular, but the sector more generally while at the same time working to find an appropriate pathway as we evolve toward a cleaner economy. I will make inquiries if there is a specific question, but to the best of my knowledge, the government remains committed to developing clean energy for the country.
Well, I do disagree in terms of the support that the government has given to the energy sector. We didn’t see anything for any of the COVID-19 emergency measures, and the projects have been failing.
I have a list, leader. It includes the Energy East Pipeline project, Northern Gateway Pipelines project, Frontier Oil Sands Mine Project, Mackenzie Valley pipeline, Aspen Oil Sands Project, Pacific NorthWest LNG Project, Aurora LNG project, Westcoast Connector Gas Transmission project and the Keystone XL Pipeline Project. These are all major energy projects which were cancelled under the Trudeau government’s watch.
The Trudeau government has enacted legislation that has driven investment away time and time again. Minister Wilkinson has previously talked down the importance of LNG in meeting or GHG emissions targets. Leader, it’s a bigger question and I would love to get your response to how the government is supporting the sector when we see the opposite in this long list. What future does LNG have in Canada?
Thank you for your question and for the list. I will refrain from stating the obvious point that the factors that go into whether projects go forward or not are many-fold, and they include the world price for resources, the world’s growing appetite for clean energy and so on. It is simply not the case that the failure of all the projects you outlined fall within the responsibility of the federal government. It is tempting to blame the government when things go bad and praise them the most when things go well.
The fact is the government remains committed to developing our resources in an appropriate and sustainable way and will continue to do so.
