Six Changes Governing Climate Policy in Canada – See Them Here

Why a comprehensive review of national energy goals is necessary to secure Canada’s economic and sovereign future

By Jim Rushton

Premier David Eby and federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson announce a new agreement tied to LNG Canada Phase 2 and major resource development projects in British Columbia. | Province of British Columbia / BC Gov Photos via Flickr.

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So much has changed in Canada and around the world — the value of energy security, the scale of the sovereignty challenge, the revisions to accepted climate‑warming models, Canada’s productivity and deficit pressures, the public statements of the International Energy Agency’s Executive Director, and Canadians’ growing support for new pipelines.

Six points to have in mind

1. The value of energy security has changed.  The International Energy Agency’s State of Energy Policy 2026 opens with a clear statement: “…in recent years, energy has been elevated to a core issue of national and economic security.” 

2. Canada’s sovereignty environment in the Arctic has changed. Since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, non-Arctic nations — particularly China, pursuing a “Polar Silk Road” — have been pushing for a say in the Arctic.

3. Canadian’s priorities have changed. Canada’s productivity, deficit and affordability challenges have moved to the top of the public’s mind.  

4. Mainstream climate-warming models have changed. The worst-case scenarios that Western policy leaned on for two decades have been withdrawn by the scientific group that designed them for the IPCC.

According to Roger Pielke Jr., writing in Issues in Science and Technology, this correction shifts the obligation from panic-driven policy to reality-based planning — and removes the moral argument against acknowledging trade-offs.

5. International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol recently urged Canada to move faster in developing its oil and gas resources and securing new export markets, as reported by the Financial Post.

This is significant because the IEA is not an industry lobby. It is an independent intergovernmental agency that governments and energy systems rely on for data, modelling, and policy guidance.

6. Canadians are increasingly “elbows-up” on new pipelines. An IPSOS poll in December 2025 confirms the shift, with rising support for new pipelines, including routes to the Pacific Ocean.

Comprehensive review of climate goals and policies

Should not all these changes demand a transparent review that attempts to bring the provincial, territorial and federal governments into sync?  Especially since Prime Minister Carney just announced that Canada would double the country’s power grid — a commitment that will require deep provincial and territorial collaboration.

The grid expansion and the MOU signed between Alberta and Canada are opening up the possibility of a new pipeline to the West Coast — both meaningful developments for working people. Still, many other policies are overdue for review.

Here in British Columbia, while there have been tweaks to the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030, we still ban nuclear and natural gas-generated power — even as we place no such restrictions on imported power produced from those same sources, or even from coal.

B.C. has a firm power gap and is looking to plug it with hydro. The next dam may not be ideally situated and will carry a far heavier environmental footprint than a natural gas plant or a precisely located small modular nuclear reactor (SMR)

British Columbia has Ottawa’s attention

Last week, as Ottawa was making announcements in Alberta, Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, was in BC alongside Premier Eby — announcing an agreement between Canada, BC, and LNG Canada that moves LNG Phase 2 significantly closer to a Final Investment Decision (FID).

Minister Hodgson also visited the Red Chris Mine, operating in partnership with the Tahltan Nation, and Cedar LNG, majority owned by the Haisla Nation — along with five other mining sites in Northwestern B.C.

We can’t forget the modest package of support for the B.C. forest industry.

The North Coast Transmission Line (NCTL), the LNG Canada Phase 2 expansion, the Ksi Lisims LNG Project, the Red Chris Mine expansion, and the under-construction Cedar LNG — all five projects on the Major Projects Office list for B.C. — are as critical to British Columbia in financing its ambitions as a new pipeline to the Pacific Ocean is to Alberta.

This is the attention that Premier Eby and British Columbians have been yearning for. B.C. has what it has been asking for, and the country is backing the province.

Now that he has his list, could Premier Eby back off on the slights directed at Premier Smith?

What political messaging Premier Eby would adopt if confronted with a large group within the caucus threatening to vote with the Green Party — to stop LNG Phase 2 and completely ban old-growth logging — is still unresolved, even on the prediction markets.

It’s not separation, but it certainly would be a disaster for British Columbia if that file were mishandled.

Two Concluding Points

1. The new climate policy guidelines reflect the progress that has been made — they are a step forward, not a retreat.    

      2.  Team Canada is going for pipelines east and west; now is the time for B.C. to get on board.

Jim Rushton is a 46-year veteran of BC’s resource and transportation sectors, with experience in union representation, economic development, and terminal management. Reach him at [email protected].

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