Our newsletter: 30 January 2025
Resources ‘core focus’ for BC
It’s good to see BC Premier David Eby recognizing a little light on the road of natural-resource development.
He said BC’s resources “need to be developed” and added: “Responsible, sustainable development of natural resources will be a core focus of our government, now and well into the future.”
He said his government had already begun to reduce permitting times for resource projects. “We’ve got more to do on that front. . . . Our government will work with you to eliminate unnecessary red tape and bureaucratic processes.”
And a group of BC business leaders later announced: “The premier outlined a vision for cutting red tape, speeding up decision-making, and ensuring the government is no longer working at cross purposes to industry as a way to encourage this growth. We support the vision and urge the government to move swiftly from words to action.”
Among those leaders is Crystal Smith, elected chief councillor of the Haisla Nation and chair of our First Nations Natural Gas Alliance: “The First Nations Natural Gas Alliance fully supports responsible resource development as a path to economic opportunity, reconciliation, and shared prosperity. By streamlining approvals and fostering investment, we can ensure that Indigenous communities are active partners and beneficiaries in building a stronger, more resilient economy for all.”
- Read more here: https://ow.ly/gWO350UNl07
And two related stories from Resource Works:
- A great week for BC’s natural resource sector, with several big developments showing off the sector’s resilience, innovation and potential: https://ow.ly/Bghy50UMJTo
- Debunking the myth of the ‘new economy’: Why BC’s wealth still flows from its natural-resource base: https://t.co/TNhX8KmE2q
The bully pulpit, the bully, and our economy
U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt called his position at the White House a “bully pulpit” (i.e., a good pulpit) from which to speak out on issues.
Now the Oval Office is, rather, a pulpit for a bully, who in the name of Make America Great Again is threatening the economy of Canada and, incidentally, the pockets of Americans who voted for him.
Now Canada needs to boost our own economy to reduce reliance on the U.S. Now we need governments to help speed up LNG and other projects — and then to get out of their way.
And we need those governments to ensure that Indigenous Peoples are fully involved, all the way, as partners, as they will be disproportionately damaged by Trumponomics.
- Read more: https://ow.ly/vef050UOijl
Scrapped projects include 19 in LNG
Canada has a hefty list of major natural-resource projects that have been abandoned or shelved, often because of government action or inaction.
One estimate is that Canada has seen some $670 billion in cancelled resource projects since 2015, when Justin Trudeau became prime minister.
A prime example was the Énergie Saguenay LNG project in Quebec. That $20-billion plan was fatally throttled in 2022 — on green grounds — by Quebec’s government and Trudeau’s minister of environment and climate change, Steven Guilbeault.
A list of 31 scrapped or suspended projects from coast to coast includes 19 LNG-for-export plants — 16 of them in BC. And one estimate is that the ditched LNG projects were worth $224 billion.
- Read it here: https://ow.ly/NBkt50UOOQn
Indigenous energy news
- Hydro-Québec is fined $5 million for acting in bad faith toward Innu community over hydro-electric complex: https://ow.ly/IPzT50UMC3n (Photo above)
- Saulteau First Nations seal energy agreement with BC Hydro for wind project: https://ow.ly/ZQTV50UMBjR
- See also: $600-million Saulteau windfarm will help power BC energy independence: minister: https://ow.ly/x8eh50UMyPC
- Six wind farms, each with a First Nation partner, are approved by Nova Scotia: https://ow.ly/XfPT50UPt1f
- Nova Scotia OKs Melvin Lake wind farm, owned by ABO Energy Canada and four First Nations: https://ow.ly/FIIq50UOc7p
- Three BC wind projects, with 51% Indigenous ownership, get 30-year electricity-purchase agreements from BC Hydro: https://ow.ly/wOjm50UMCOc
- The Canada Infrastructure Bank provides $224.2 million in loans for a Nova Scotia wind-energy project and helps 13 Mi’kmaw First Nations buy a 10% per cent stake in the project: https://ow.ly/EgoE50UMBQP
- Wejipek Wind project, majority-owned by Lennox Island First Nation, would power 4,000 P.E.I. homes: https://ow.ly/9C6650UMBIK
- Indigenous leaders in Nova Scotia want to meet Premier Tim Houston over his green-energy and natural-resource plan: https://ow.ly/zGXW50UME7u
ALSO IN THE NEWS
- Woodfibre LNG looks forward to the arrival this year of the first LNG production modules. Development continues toward the world’s first net-zero LNG export facility by 2027: https://ow.ly/bNaX50UPnn5
- Three critical reasons why the PRGT gas pipeline in BC should go ahead as an ‘immense opportunity,’ and feed natural gas to the Nisga’a Nation’s Ksi Lisims LNG project: https://ow.ly/52Fh50UOz7S
- Canada must embrace the LNG future, or get left behind by Trump’s energy superpower: https://ow.ly/Og8U50UL6To
- Canada has ‘an incredible opportunity to exploit its vast natural-gas resources’ and export LNG: https://ow.ly/owLc50UJ89P
- Geoff Russ: Canada needs to scrap the Impact Assessment Act, and the regulatory maze of rules and delays that scare away investors and shut down the nation’s energy industry: https://ow.ly/pSSb50UO6KH
- Resource Works tells Ottawa that the proposed federal emissions cap on oil and gas ‘imposes substantial risks to Canada’s economic competitiveness’ and more: https://ow.ly/oiVz50ULpLB See also: https://ow.ly/RFZE50ULpLA
EVENTS
- Canada Powered by Women and Canadian Women in Energy, Industry Alliance Event, Feb. 5, Calgary: https://ow.ly/9fpi50UJxzx
- Petronas International Energy Speaker Series, Feb. 6, Calgary: https://ow.ly/EB0X50UvCIF
- National Coalition of Chiefs, Clean Energy Summit, Feb. 13-14, Tsuut’ina Nation, near Calgary: https://ow.ly/TT0350TYQyr
- EnergyNow panel on Federal Energy Election ’25, Feb. 19, Calgary: https://ow.ly/uPMP50UG2fG
- Canadian Institute’s Western Indigenous Consultation & Engagement conference, Feb. 20-21, Edmonton: https://ow.ly/4MsG50TUBpb
- Canadian Council for Indigenous Business, Indigenous business networking event, Feb. 27, Ottawa: https://bit.ly/3WfVWyC
- Assembly of First Nations, National Natural Resources Forum: March 12 – 13, Vancouver: https://ow.ly/76Aa50Uw5PX Alliance CEO Karen Ogen is a speaker on March 13.
- Canadian Gas Association Energy Security Summit, March 25-26, Ottawa: https://ow.ly/ozwT50TYNRA
- Nation2Nation Women’s Gathering, April 24-25, Kitimat BC: https://ow.ly/A8yo50SYpkv
- First Nations Major Projects Coalition, 8th annual conference, April 27–29, Toronto: https://ow.ly/jcSA50Ub44c
- National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, Indigenous Prosperity Forum, May 7-8, Gatineau PQ. https://ow.ly/Ib2K50UyQ70
- Global Energy Show Canada, June 10-12, Calgary: https://ow.ly/f6lS50Uk1zW
- Ninth Indigenous Resource Opportunities Conference, June 18-20, Nanaimo BC: https://ow.ly/m1rW50SHvIp
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