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CALGARY, ALTA. \u2014 Prime Minister Mark Carney sat down with oil and gas executives in Calgary Sunday to discuss partnerships and to get their input for his plans to make Canada an energy superpower.<\/p>\n
Carney, in his first visit to Calgary since being sworn in as prime minister, held a closed door roundtable with more than two dozen members of the energy sector.<\/p>\n
Attendees included Tourmaline Oil CEO Michael Rose, Pathways Alliance President Kendall Dilling, ATCO CEO Nancy Southern, Imperial Oil President John Whelan and Jon McKenzie, president of Cenovus Energy.<\/p>\n
Reporters were only allowed to hear a few comments from the prime minister before being asked to leave the room at the Harry Hays building.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for convening on a Sunday morning and also for what you\u2019ve all been doing to help build our country\u2026build our economy, build a future,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to thank a number of you who wrote directly to me a month or so ago and I felt it would be best to get together and discuss it in much more detail than through an exchange of letters given the importance of the issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thirty-eight CEOs of Canadian energy companies signed a letter congratulating Carney on his April 28 election win and pitching policy measures they say would help the prime minister make good on his promise to build the fastest-growing economy in the G7.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That would include scrapping the federal emissions gap on oil and gas producers and repealing industrial carbon pricing to help bolster the industry.<\/p>\n
The CEOs want an overhaul of the Impact Assessment Act, which sets out the process for assessing major projects, and of the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which bans oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of crude from stopping along parts of British Columbia\u2019s coastline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carney campaigned on expediting reviews of major energy infrastructure projects. He promised before the election to move forward with a \u201cone project, one review\u201d approach by recognizing assessments conducted by the provinces and territories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The federal government unveiled its proposed emissions cap regulations late last year. They would compel upstream oil and gas operations to reduce emissions to 35 per cent below where they were in 2019 by sometime between 2030 and 2032.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPartnership is a theme for our discussion this morning,\u201d Carney said, accompanied by Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada and U.S. trade and Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a critical time for our country. The world\u2019s certainly more divided and dangerous and the imperative of making Canada an energy superpower in all respects has never been greater. We will do everything we can at the federal government level to support those partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was asked on her weekend radio show if she was concerned that the federal throne speech didn\u2019t include a mention of pipelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe may not have said the words \u2018oil and gas\u2019 and he may not have said the word \u2018pipeline,\u2019 but conventional energy means oil and gas, and the only way to get it to market efficiently is through pipelines,\u201d said Smith, who says she\u2019s hoping for a one-on-one with Carney at Monday\u2019s First Ministers conference in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n
Smith also praised Carney for being more willing to engage with the premiers on issues of national importance than his predecessor Justin Trudeau. She was coy when asked about consequences if Carney doesn\u2019t deliver, saying she prefers to be optimistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carney also took a moment on Sunday to thank the Department of National Defence, the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and volunteers involved in fighting extensive wildfires and co-ordinating large-scale evacuations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good news is those are proceeding well at this stage but of course it\u2019s not over until it\u2019s over and we\u2019re at the start of the forest fire season across the country,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we\u2019ll stay committed to doing everything that we can with partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 The Canadian Press<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n