“Energy Does Not Make Us (Canada) Prosperous When it’s Sitting in the Ground” – Resources Minister Tim Hodgson Addresses Global Energy Show Audience in Calgary

By Terry Winnitoy

CALGARY, AB – Speaking to a packed international audience at the Global Energy Show Canada on June 9, Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson, delivered an ambitious vision for Canada’s energy future, declaring that the country is entering a new era of energy development, infrastructure construction, and global market expansion.

Addressing delegates from around the world, Hodgson emphasized that Canada possesses the resources, workforce, technology, and political stability needed to become one of the world’s leading suppliers of both conventional and low-carbon energy.

“The world needs what Canada has,” Hodgson told attendees, arguing that growing global demand for secure and reliable energy creates a unique opportunity for Canada to strengthen both its economy and geopolitical influence.

Canada’s Competitive Advantage

Hodgson highlighted Canada’s vast energy wealth, noting that the country holds the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves, most of which are located in Alberta’s oil sands. He also pointed to Canada’s position as the fifth-largest natural gas producer, a global leader in carbon capture and storage, a major producer of renewable electricity, and a recognized nuclear energy nation.

According to Hodgson, Canada’s combination of abundant resources, skilled workers, democratic stability, and strong regulatory institutions makes it an increasingly attractive destination for global investment.

Quoting International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol, Hodgson said, “The energy-hungry world needs Canada more than ever.”

A New Focus on Building

A recurring theme throughout the speech was the federal government’s commitment to accelerating project approvals and reducing regulatory delays.

Hodgson highlighted the newly established Major Projects Office, headquartered in Calgary, which is designed to provide a streamlined approval process for major energy and infrastructure developments. The office has already received 15 major projects and seven strategic initiatives representing more than $126 billion in potential investment.

Projects under consideration include LNG developments, nuclear facilities, hydroelectric projects, and major transmission infrastructure.

The minister argued that Canada’s future prosperity depends not simply on possessing resources, but on building the infrastructure required to bring them to market.

“Energy does not make us prosperous when it’s sitting in the ground,” he said.

Strengthening the Canada-Alberta Partnership

Hodgson devoted considerable attention to the Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), describing it as a blueprint for cooperation between the federal and provincial governments.

The agreement aims to advance both conventional and clean energy development while pursuing Canada’s net-zero ambitions by 2050.

Among the initiatives being explored under the MOU are:

• The Pathways carbon capture project.
• A proposed one-million-barrel-per-day pipeline to Asian markets.
• New electricity interties.
• Development of AI data centre infrastructure.
• Expansion of nuclear power generation in Alberta.

Hodgson characterized the agreement as evidence that Ottawa and Alberta can work together to advance major nation-building projects despite past disagreements.

LNG Expansion and Global Markets

One of the strongest themes of the speech was Canada’s emerging LNG industry.

Hodgson celebrated LNG Canada’s first exports, noting that the facility has already shipped approximately 80 cargoes to international customers since beginning operations.

He also highlighted Cedar LNG, the Indigenous-led export project on British Columbia’s coast, as a model for future development. The project’s emissions intensity is expected to be significantly below the global LNG average while opening new export opportunities in Asia and Europe.

Recent agreements involving German energy companies SEFE and Uniper were presented as evidence of growing international demand for Canadian natural gas.

According to Hodgson, expanding LNG exports allows Canada to provide allies with energy from a trusted democratic supplier while helping displace higher-emission fuels in global markets.

Indigenous Partnerships as a Foundation

A significant portion of the minister’s remarks focused on Indigenous participation in energy development.

Hodgson praised the leadership of the Haisla Nation in advancing Cedar LNG and pointed to growing Indigenous ownership opportunities across Canada’s energy sector.

He cited the federal Indigenous loan guarantee program, which helped 36 First Nations acquire a stake in a major British Columbia natural gas pipeline system, as an example of how Indigenous communities can participate directly in long-term wealth creation.

The minister argued that successful energy development in Canada increasingly depends on moving beyond consultation toward genuine economic partnerships.

Pathways and Lower-Emission Oil Production

Hodgson reaffirmed federal support for the Pathways Alliance carbon capture initiative, describing it as one of the most important projects for the future of Canada’s oil industry.

He argued that the world will continue to require oil and natural gas for decades and that Canada’s competitive advantage will come from reducing emissions associated with production rather than restricting production itself.

“The countries that succeed will be those capable of producing the energy the world needs while simultaneously reducing the emissions associated with producing it,” he said.

An ‘All-of-the-Above’ Energy Strategy

While defending continued growth in oil and natural gas production, Hodgson stressed that Canada’s future energy system will require a diverse mix of technologies.

His vision includes:

• Oil and natural gas.
• Carbon capture and storage.
• Hydroelectric power.
• Nuclear energy.
• Wind and solar generation.
• Expanded transmission infrastructure.

The federal government is pursuing a strategy to significantly expand electricity generation and grid capacity by 2050 to support economic growth, artificial intelligence, data centres, manufacturing, transportation electrification, and future industrial development.

Nuclear energy was highlighted as a key component of that strategy, with Alberta and Saskatchewan expected to play growing roles alongside Ontario and New Brunswick.

Canada Open for Business

Hodgson concluded by framing energy policy as economic policy, trade policy, security policy, and investment policy all at once.

He encouraged international investors to view Canada as a stable, resource-rich destination capable of supplying both conventional and low-carbon energy to a world increasingly concerned about energy security.

His message to investors was direct: “Look at Canada. Bring your capital here. Bring your technology here. Bring your ambition here.”

The speech served as one of the clearest statements yet of the Carney government’s energy agenda—one focused on accelerating major projects, expanding exports, strengthening Indigenous partnerships, and positioning Canada as a leading supplier of energy to global markets while pursuing its net-zero commitments.

As Hodgson told delegates in closing, “When the choice is now or never, Canada chooses now.”

READ MINISTER HODGSON’S FULL SPEECH HERE: 

Good morning Everyone

It’s great to be here in Calgary. It seems like my home away from home for the opening of this Global Energy Show. I understand this is the largest edition of this conference yet, especially with regards to this year’s international presence.

First, I’d like to say to our international guests who traveled here to join us: welcome to Canada. Your presence is a testament to something our Prime Minister has identified succinctly over the last year: Canada has what the world wants, and we want to share it with our allies around the world.

As Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, I’m proud to tout a few statistics to make this point.

As we all know, Canada has abundant energy. We have the fourth-largest proven oil reserves in the world, representing 10% of global reserves, and more than 97% of that is right here in Alberta’s oil sands. We export 80% of our 5 million barrels per day of production to our allies, and I expect that percentage to grow.

We are the world’s fifth-largest natural gas producer. We have nearly 1,370 trillion cubic feet of marketable natural gas reserves across this country, enough to last hundreds of years at current production levels. We export almost half of our production to our allies, and as we ramp up our energy industry, this percentage will also increase.

We are a tier-one nuclear nation. We are a leader in carbon capture and storage. We are the fourth-largest producer of renewable electricity in the world.

But we have more. We have one of the world’s best workforces. We have world-class companies. We have the ability to ship our products via three oceans, with a commitment to leveraging that into new trade deals and relationships around the world. We have signed over 20 economic and security deals with our allies on five continents in the past 12 months.

Finally, we have democratic stability, a strong respect for the rule of law, and a government committed to regulatory streamlining, predictable permitting, and focused on how we build—not whether we will build.

All of this means that in a moment that feels uncertain and volatile, the world increasingly trusts Canada.

You don’t have to take my word for it. A few weeks ago, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, visited Canada and said the same thing.

This trust, as Dr. Birol said, gives Canada a golden opportunity. He said, and I quote, “When I look at the world, the energy-hungry world, it needs Canada more than ever.”

This gives us an extraordinary amount of geopolitical leverage—a hand we can use for ourselves and our allies around the world to achieve strategic autonomy when they need it and when Canada needs it most.

But Canada’s great hand of geopolitical cards only matters if we actually play those cards, ladies and gentlemen. Energy does not make us prosperous when it’s sitting in the ground. Energy and resources don’t strengthen our sovereignty if we can’t move them to market. Clean electricity does not attract investment if we cannot connect it with where demand is growing.

Expeditiously and responsibly developing our energy and natural resources is the task and opportunity before us. It’s a big task. It’s a hard task. But it’s why Prime Minister Carney’s government has spent the past year relentlessly focused on ambition, discipline, and most of all, delivery.

The Major Projects Office, headquartered right here in Calgary, is at the center of that work. It replaces years of permitting and regulatory uncertainty with a single window, clear timelines, accountability, and coordination across government dedicated to getting major nation-building projects built. It is about building responsibly, but also building decisively.

We have now referred 15 projects and seven new transformational strategies to the Major Projects Office. These represent over $126 billion in new investment for Canada. This is real nation-building investment, real projects, and real jobs for Canadians.

It includes conventional energy projects like LNG Canada Phase Two and Cedar LNG. It includes clean energy projects like the Iqaluit hydro project and the Darlington New Nuclear Project, including the first SMRs in the G7. It also includes transmission projects such as the North Coast Transmission Line.

It sends a message: Canada is back as a serious energy country. Canada is back as a place to invest capital. And Canada is back as a country that intends to build big things again.

That same approach is guiding our work with Alberta, especially through the Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU.

The Canada-Alberta MOU matters because it signals something simple but powerful: Canada and Alberta share a goal of becoming a clean and conventional energy superpower—a country that is prosperous on the road to net-zero by 2050.

Since we signed the agreement in November, we have moved from words to action. We have signed one project, one review agreements. Less than two years after our respective governments fought about these issues in the Supreme Court, we reached an agreement in principle on methane equivalency so we can effectively tackle the most polluting and least costly emissions to reduce.

Perhaps most importantly, we have established a carbon market that works—an effective market that will give investors the long-term certainty needed to move major projects forward, develop Canada’s energy industry, and help reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

We are now charting the path forward on other elements of the MOU: the Pathways Project, a one-million-barrel-per-day pipeline to access Asian markets, new renewable electricity interties, a framework for AI data centres, and new nuclear energy development for Alberta.

This is cooperative federalism in action and it is what Canadians expect from their governments. Together, Canada and Alberta are building one of the world’s greatest energy superpowers.

The MOU is a key part of our government’s plan because it recognizes a simple fact: conventional energy is critical to domestic and international energy systems and will remain so for years to come.

The oil sands are one of the greatest industrial achievements in Canadian history. They transformed Alberta. They transformed Canada. They created prosperity that has been felt in every province and territory across this great country, and they gave our country a strategic asset that very few democracies possess—a massive, secure, responsibly regulated energy supply.

In today’s world, that is not something to apologize for. It is something to build upon.

Amid an energy crisis that touches every corner of the world, the question is not whether our allies need oil and gas from countries they can trust. The question is whether that energy will come from Canada, developed responsibly in partnership with Indigenous peoples, creating good jobs and generating revenue for public services—or whether it will come from places that don’t share our values.

I believe the answer should be Canada.

That’s why accelerating our LNG export potential is so important. For decades, Canada had the natural gas, the geography, the workers, and the expertise. What we did not have was access to global markets from our own Canadian ports.

Canada’s new government is changing that. Last summer, LNG Canada shipped its first cargo, opening a new era of Canadian energy exports. The facility continues to ramp up production and has already shipped 80 cargoes to our allies around the world.

Cedar LNG, one of the next projects in the pipeline, is an important example of what comes next. It is a $30-billion-plus Indigenous-led project with emissions 94% below the global average.

Its best-in-class carbon intensity means that, as LNG from Cedar displaces higher-emitting fuels in Asia, it could help the planet avoid between nine and fourteen million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

To put that in perspective, that is roughly equivalent to the annual energy use of more than 2.6 million homes, removing nearly three million cars from the road for a year, or eliminating emissions from burning over fourteen million pounds of coal.

Yesterday, following last month’s announcement of Canada’s first long-term LNG offtake deal with German state-owned energy company SEFE, Cedar LNG announced a new federal letter of intent with Uniper, one of Europe’s largest energy companies.

Once finalized and once Cedar begins shipping, this could see Canadian LNG delivered not only to customers in Germany but also to customers in Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Cedar also shows what reconciliation with First Nations can look like in practice. It places the leadership of the Haisla Nation at the centre of development.

I believe President Crystal Smith is here today, and I want to recognize that she has been a remarkable leader—not only for her Nation and this project, but for British Columbia and Canada as a whole.

It is something we can all aspire to as we pursue Prime Minister Carney’s build agenda, reminding ourselves that building Canada strong for all means building Canada strong with and for Indigenous peoples.

This morning’s announcement of Cedar LNG signing contribution agreements with the Metlakatla, Lax Kw’alaams, and Gitga’at First Nations is a testament to inclusive, solutions-oriented development.

These agreements show that when governments, project proponents, and Indigenous communities engage seriously and in good faith, we can find solutions that benefit everyone. They demonstrate that in the 21st century, we can and should go beyond consultation and invest in real, meaningful partnerships with Indigenous peoples.

The Sunrise Pipeline expansion in British Columbia is another strong example of what productive partnerships with First Nations can look like. The expansion will add up to 300 million cubic feet per day of additional natural gas transportation capacity, helping ensure energy security for homes and industry in British Columbia while supporting major new projects, including LNG facilities.

The project is expected to add more than $3 billion to Canada’s GDP, generate over $700 million in tax revenues, and create approximately 2,500 construction jobs.

Last year, the first Indigenous loan guarantee issued under our new federal program supported 36 Nations in acquiring a 12.5 percent stake in that pipeline system. This means participating Nations will benefit not only from the more than $52 million Enbridge has already spent on Indigenous procurement and contracting, but also from long-term wealth generation that can be reinvested in their own communities.

That is what practical, positive nation-building looks like for a country committed to being a true energy superpower while building alongside Indigenous peoples.

The Pathways Project is also critical to ensuring Canada’s oil sector continues to grow.

If Canada can achieve a transformational reduction in the carbon intensity of one of the world’s largest oil-producing regions, it will be a global achievement. It will demonstrate that energy production and emissions reductions can advance together.

Premier Danielle Smith has described the Pathways Project as something that can future-proof Canada’s oil industry, and we agree. It represents the practical middle ground Canada can occupy in today’s world.

We cannot pretend the world no longer needs oil and gas. We know it does.

At the same time, we cannot pretend emissions do not matter. We know they do.

The countries that succeed will be those capable of producing the energy the world needs while simultaneously reducing the emissions associated with producing it.

The countries that thrive during this period of global uncertainty will also not be those that rely on only one form of energy.

That is why our government is pursuing a pragmatic “all-of-the-above” approach while working toward doubling Canada’s electricity capacity by 2050.

This represents a tremendous opportunity for both Canada and Alberta and forms an important component of our national energy strategy.

In May, we released a vision paper outlining how the federal government is approaching the expansion of Canada’s electricity grids in a way that maintains reliability, prioritizes affordability, and advances sustainability.

We are now consulting with provinces and territories, which hold primary jurisdiction over electricity systems, as well as Indigenous communities, utilities, labour organizations, industry stakeholders, and others.

Canada already possesses one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world. However, if we are serious about economic growth, we will require significantly more electricity.

We will need it to power homes, ports, data centres, manufacturing facilities, electric vehicles, carbon capture projects, and industries that have yet to emerge.

This means building new generation capacity, strengthening transmission systems, and connecting provincial grids more effectively so that Canada can function as a truly integrated national economy rather than thirteen separate provincial and territorial systems.

Of course, this future will also include nuclear energy.

Canada has been a nuclear energy leader for generations. Our homegrown CANDU reactor technology has provided reliable, non-emitting electricity to Canadians for decades.

As we embark on a major nuclear expansion that will include not only Ontario and New Brunswick but also Alberta and Saskatchewan, nuclear energy will play an increasingly important role in providing the clean electricity required by heavy industry, manufacturing, data centres, and growing communities.

Under the Canada-Alberta MOU, both governments have committed to developing a nuclear generation strategy by January 1, 2027.

This matters because investment—particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence and data centres—is increasingly flowing to jurisdictions where electricity is abundant, reliable, affordable, and clean.

If we want next-generation technology investments to come to Alberta and to Canada, we must ensure that the infrastructure exists to support them.

That is also why renewable energy remains important.

Premier Smith’s commitment to bringing more renewable energy development to Alberta is welcome. Alberta has already been one of Canada’s most aggressive adopters of renewable energy development in recent years.

The province possesses world-class wind and solar resources, an entrepreneurial energy sector, and a proven ability to attract private investment capital.

Like many regions across Canada, Alberta has significant opportunities to develop renewable energy projects that can provide affordable electricity to homes and businesses while creating jobs and economic opportunities.

Ladies and gentlemen, the key is to avoid pitting one energy source against another.

Our vision is for provinces and territories to build an interconnected Canadian electricity system that utilizes natural gas, carbon capture, nuclear power, hydroelectricity, wind, solar, and other renewable resources.

We want to create one of the most competitive energy jurisdictions in the world. We want to support transmission interties that connect our country, balance electricity flows, and allow each province and territory to capitalize on its own unique strengths.

Most importantly, we want to keep energy affordable for Canadians as we work toward achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

This also matters because our goal is to attract unprecedented levels of private-sector investment into Canada.

When a company evaluates where to build its next manufacturing plant, data centre, industrial facility, or major project, it asks a series of basic questions:

Is power available?

Is it reliable?

Is it affordable?

Is it clean?

Can the project be permitted?

Can the necessary infrastructure be built?

Canada’s answer to all of these questions must be yes.

In conclusion, whether we are discussing conventional energy, clean energy, Canada’s permitting system, the investment environment we are creating, or our role as a supplier to global markets, the larger point remains the same.

Energy policy is now economic policy.

It is security policy.

It is trade policy.

It is investment policy.

The world is not waiting for Canada, but Canada is not waiting either.

We are rising to this moment.

As Prime Minister Carney has said, in a time of crisis, fortune favours the bold.

That is why we are building.

Capital is moving here.

Projects are being approved.

Customers are coming here.

Our allies are looking for trusted partners, and Canada is ready to answer that call.

However, government cannot accomplish this alone.

The role of government is to create the conditions for success: clear rules, faster decisions, stronger partnerships, credible standards, and investor confidence that Canada is serious about building.

The role of the private sector is then to build.

My message to the companies and investors gathered here today is simple: look at Canada.

Look at our resource base.

Look at our workforce.

Look at our project pipeline.

Look at our Indigenous partnerships.

Look at the markets opening in Europe and Asia.

Look at the growing demand for low-carbon and renewable energy.

Look at the infrastructure we are building to connect Canada to the world.

Then bring your capital here.

Bring your technology here.

Bring your ambition here.

To our international friends in the room, my message is equally straightforward: partner with us. Build with us.

Canada can be the reliable supplier you need in an increasingly volatile world.

We are democratic.

We are dependable.

We possess abundant natural resources.

We are expanding production and trade infrastructure.

And we are doing so while advancing Indigenous reconciliation and reducing emissions.

The world needs what Canada has.

And Canada understands that we need the prosperity that responsibly developed energy and natural resources can provide.

During your time here in Calgary, I hope you see that Canada is once again open for business and eager to work with partners from across the country and around the world.

Opportunities like the one before us today do not come often.

When the choice is now or never, Canada chooses now.

Please join us.

Thank you.

Merci.

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