Blog: Federal loan-guarantee program coming, and welcome
Ottawa’s move to help Indigenous peoples fund investments in natural-resource and energy projects is coming, and, as requested by First Nations leaders, it will allow for equity investment in oil, gas, LNG, and related initiatives. The program was announced in the 2024-5 federal budget this week, with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland promising that up to…
Blog: Canada’s LNG: Act locally, think globally
By KAREN OGEN We’ve come a long way since 2,500 years ago, when the Chinese used crude bamboo ‘pipelines’ to carry natural gas that seeped to the earth’s surface and used it to boil sea water to get drinkable water. Now we have LNG Canada testing its plant at Kitimat B.C., a $43-billion project that…
Key questions for Ottawa’s Indigenous loan program
The federal budget for 2024-5, due to be presented to Parliament on April 16, promises to include a loan-guarantee program to enable Indigenous People to invest in resource projects on their territories. Such a program should be welcome — but how welcome depends on Ottawa’s rules and red tape surrounding it. That a program is…
Our blog: Canadian LNG is Indigenous LNG
We’ve been spreading the message in that headline above for a long time online — and now it’s becoming even more clear. For example, the Nisga’a Nation now has announced, with Western LNG, the planned purchase from TC Energy of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline project (PRGT). It would be used to feed natural…
Blog: World LNG demand is on the rise. Can Canada ship more?
Some 400 years ago, French explorers noted First Nations people lighting natural gas that seeped into and around Lake Erie. We’ve come a long way since then: About one third of Canada’s energy needs now are met by natural gas. More than six million Canadians use it to light, heat, and cool homes and business…