All Signs Point To Carney Doubling Down On Energy Sabotage

By Geoff Russ, Special to the National Citizens Coalition and the Energy Affordability Now campaign

Among the First World countries, where do you suppose Canada ranks for economic growth? With its access to the United States, natural resources, and market economy, it should rank among the top of the middle.

Shockingly, the IMF has noted Canada’s real GDP per capita growth as among the weakest performers in advanced economies. For the past decade, the US economy grew by over 20 percent in real per GDP per capita growth, Spain grew by almost 18 percent, and France expanded by 8.2 percent.

Canada grew by only around 2 percent due to rapid population growth outpacing economic gains. That’s not a false statistic; it’s simply a cold, hard truth that Canadians are becoming poorer relative to their peers. Even if Trump’s tariffs were not a threat, Canada would still be lagging in this metric.

The hypothetical new Prime Minister Mark Carney now seems determined to double down on slowing the growth of Canada’s energy sector, one of the most productive wealth-and-job-creating industries in our possession.

Yes, Carney has spoken of Canada as an “energy superpower,” but those are only words until he can prove that he will not maintain the status quo of making every new energy project pay in delays and fees. He bluntly stated that the timelines for LNG projects are out of his hands, which is a questionable statement considering the significant influence a Prime Minister could exert over the rules and regulations imposed by the Trudeau government.

Delays on the basis of green ideology may impress climate aristocrats in New York and London, but in Canada, it means potentially stifling Western Canada’s LNG industry in its infancy. This is not an exaggeration; there is a real threat from a potential competitor in Alaska that could rob Canadian LNG of its customers in the Pacific.

President Trump has been pushing for a $44 billion USD LNG project in Alaska that would supply Japan with a massive amount of natural gas and push aside Canada as a player in the market. The Alaska LNG project is still in development and not expected to come online until 2030 at the earliest, but considering it has taken over a decade just to get BC projects like Cedar LNG on the verge of operation, this is a concerning development.

By refusing to commit to expediting these projects, which include Ksi Lisims LNG and Woodfibre LNG, Carney is abandoning an opportunity to revive the stagnant economy and protect it from hostile foreign competition. These are shovel-ready or nearly completed projects, and they are essential to Canada’s future.

The weakest per capita economic growth in the first world will not be reversed by continuing to subsidize struggling electric car manufacturers like Northvolt and Stellantis, neither of which have delivered significant economic gains for Canada.

When Carney says the timeline for productive LNG projects is “not my decision,” he is mistaken or not telling the full truth. He can decide to work for the future, for growth, and for a stronger Canada, or he can double down on the same failed policies of the Liberal government he now hypothetically leads.

If Carney is pledging change, he can start with the energy sector.

For the past 10 years, shelved and cancelled energy projects have resulted in over $600 billion in potential economic losses, according to some estimates. Just one energy project, the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX), contributed a huge boost to quarterly economic growth and created thousands of direct and indirect jobs.

More energy projects mean lower gas prices, higher wages, more revenue, and security in this changing and more uncertain world. Only a fool or an ideologue would refuse to embrace it and make it part of a better future for Canada.

We must be strong, and if Carney cannot see the writing on the wall and be a real champion for Canada’s strongest and most important industry, he truly is just like Justin.

Geoff Russ is a policy manager in the resource sector and contributor to several national publications across Canada, the United States, and Australia. Read his work in the National Post, the Spectator Australia, and Modern Age.

There's no solving for Canada's cost of living crisis -- or tariff crisis -- without growing Canada's resource economy, and restrictions on our energy sector have proven themselves to be just another tax on working families. Help us advocate on your behalf, and on behalf of our Great Canadian energy producers and innovators.

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