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PM is dismissive of questions about pipelines, about problems the oil and gas industry is facing.
Brian Lilley
Originally Published in Toronto Sun Here
Don’t expect any boring oil pipelines in Mark Carney’s announcement Thursday about projects of national interest. In his last few public appearances, Carney has downplayed the idea, downplayed the importance of the oil and gas industry and downplayed concerns the industry has about government regulation.
At a time when Carney and his government say they’re focused on reducing our reliance on the American economy, his comments aren’t just foolish, they come with a real economic cost.
“So boring,” Carney said last Thursday at the Canadian Club when asked if a pipeline would come.
Carney was dismissive of journalist Amber Kanwar, who tried to insist it wasn’t boring, and mocked the idea by asking the Toronto business audience to raise their hands if they were “working on the pipeline.” At one point, Carney pointed to Navdeep Bains, a former Liberal cabinet minister and currently the top lobbyist at Rogers Communications, to ask if he was working on the pipeline.
Carney sucks and blows
It was typical Carney: Suck and blow on the same issue, play to the audience you’re in front of and their prejudices. During his Q&A with Kanwar, Carney also dismissed concerns government policy was restricting the ability of Canadian companies to properly invest in this country.
“Let’s use the energy sector as an example,” Kanwar said. “There are a lot of things that are preventing them from even bringing a major project to your office, according to them. Bill C-69, emissions cap …”
“Nope, nope, nope,” Carney interrupted before she could finish her sentence.
“That’s what they say,” she tried to continue.
“That’s what they say, but they’re wrong. They’re wrong. No, they’re wrong,” Carney said, never letting Kanwar finish her thought.
It wasn’t the first time.
At some point we will need to discuss Mark Carney’s dismissive attitude toward women in the media, but I digress.
On Monday, Carney was asked by a journalist about the fact his budget didn’t contain any relief measures to allow the oil and gas industry to prosper. He was also dismissive of that, pointing to the clean electricity grids in Quebec and Nova Scotia, and spoke about LNG exports before inviting people to Prince Rupert on Thursday for his next announcement of major projects his government will back.
Carney will back LNG on West Coast
It’s clear Carney is willing to back LNG on the west coast, at least projects that use British Columbia natural gas and will pay the NDP government in that province handsomely. The last major proposal of an LNG export terminal in Prince Rupert was to have a pipeline from gas fields in northeastern B.C. to Prince Rupert.
That project is likely to get the go-ahead on Thursday, but other projects, especially in Alberta, will be left without government support — and without the needed changes to the regulatory environment.
Despite what Carney says, government regulation is getting in the way of companies that want to invest in Canada, but are instead putting money elsewhere. TC Energy CEO François Poirier recently announced his company will invest $8.5 billion building new capacity for pipelines and other energy infrastructure in the United States instead of Canada — and his reasoning was quite blunt.
“Canada’s current regulatory process is too complex, too subjective and too long. It lacks the speed and predictability required for investor confidence, delaying critical projects that would serve Canada’s interests,” Poirier said.
He praised the government’s move to pass Bill C-5, but said more needs to be done. He’s not alone. Gregory Ebel, the CEO of Enbridge, told analysts on a conference call last Friday — the same day Carney was telling a business audience there were no issues — that his company would expand in the United States, but not Canada.
Saying investing in new projects in Canada “would require significant energy policy change,” Ebel said the company will find ways to use existing pipeline infrastructure in Canada more effectively, but not build more. In the United States, the Calgary-based company is in expansion mode on several fronts.
Both of these Canadian energy companies would like to invest in Canada, but it simply doesn’t make sense for them or their shareholders. That lack of investment means lower government revenues and fewer jobs.
Mark Carney can say there’s no issue; that’s simply not the case. At a time when he needs to be unleashing the Canadian economy, he’s holding us back due to political considerations.
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