Canada

Canadian Energy Weekly Round-Up: February 17, 2020

Here are the top news stories covering Canada’s energy landscape:

Coastal GasLink Has Majority of Canadian and Indigenous Support.

Extremist protests against Canadian energy are having ripple effects throughout the country’s economy. Last week, Via Rail had to suspend service between Montreal-Toronto and Toronto-Ottawa due a railroad blockade launched in protest of the Teck Frontier Coastal Gaslink project. Despite the fact that this project has received overwhelming support from indigenous groups along the pipeline’s planned route, protesters are targeting the project and harming thousands of commuters in the process.

As Val Litwin, president and CEO of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, recently explained:

“We believe that only Indigenous nations have the right to speak for Indigenous nations. What is concerning today in B.C. is that many non-Indigenous protesters appear to be appropriating an Indigenous issue for their own self-serving purposes. These outsiders seem to think they know better than the group of 20 First Nations that approve the project after investing years into studying the impacts of LNG and the natural gas pipeline. These same outsiders also discount the benefits that signed agreements between the company and Indigenous nations will have on addressing poverty and improving the standard of living for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.”

Extremists’ Approach to Fossil Fuels Will Harm Canada and the World

Mark Carney, who will soon become the United Nations special envoy on climate action and finance, has been sharing his thoughts on why financial companies should divest from investments in fossil fuels. As The Globe and Mail explains:

“While the details of Mr. Carney’s vision are still vague, the new financial regulations will likely have a disproportionate impact on private fossil-fuel companies over state-owned entities.”

Carney’s vague desire to use international financial regulations to make it costlier and harder to invest in traditional energy companies will be particularly harmful to private companies in the United States and Canada, giving companies that are government-run—in places like Venezuela and Russia—a leg up due to their dependence on government financing.  In addition to the harm this could have to Canada’s economy and energy supply, it would be harmful to energy production around the world. Canada’s strong human rights record and focus on emissions reduction make it a more attractive business partner for investment.

Canadian Energy Can Help Address Emissions Reduction

Extreme approaches to Canadian energy not only harm the country’s economy, but they could have harmful effects on emissions reduction globally. As global energy demand continues to rise, Canadian companies have the resources and commitment to reduce emissions. As Martha Hall Findlay, chief sustainability officer for Suncor Energy explained,

“Energy is going way up, and it’s going to continue to go up, and we have to get emissions down big time, really fast. [Large energy companies are] pretty well positioned to be a hell of a big part of the solution.”

For more Canadian energy news and setting the record straight on the day’s top stories about the oil and natural gas industry, visit Canadian Energy Network.

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