Energy
Supreme Court ruling on federal environmental law a step toward brighter industrial future

From the MacDonald Laurier Institute
By Heather Exner-Pirot
Now we need to build: to meet net-zero goals, to supply our allies with energy and critical minerals, to compete with the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, to bolster our anemic economy – take your pick
In a strong rebuke to the federal government, the Supreme Court on Friday issued its long-awaited opinion on the constitutionality of the Impact Assessment Act (IAA). In a 5 to 2 decision, the majority found that the Liberal government’s regulations for major projects such as oil and gas operations and mines violate provincial jurisdiction.
The decision will have lasting impact. It is a piece of cautiously optimistic news for the industry, paving the way for realizing its greatest desire: to move away from concurrent and competing federal and provincial processes for project approval, toward a more efficient principle of one project, one assessment.
There will be immediate impacts, too. It’s hard to see how the Liberal government’s proposed clean electricity regulations and oil and gas emissions cap, which is contentious on similar grounds, can now be seen as constitutional.
In the wake of the decision on Friday, the federal government promised to amend the act. The decision provides good reason for the government to start looking at its other environmental regulations through the same lens.
The IAA, which became law in 2019 after contentious Senate hearings and months of public protests, is unpopular for wholly legitimate reasons. It duplicated and often competed with provincial processes for approving natural resources projects, adding time, money, confusion and risk for companies.
It also politicized the regulatory process, allowing the federal minister of environment and climate change to designate just about any resource project in the country for assessment, and then effectively veto it too. The results, if unchecked: a quiet quitting of investors and proponents who then move their capital to greener, more predictable pastures.
Even before the Supreme Court opinion on the IAA came out, the Liberals had promised to reform it. Friday’s decision gives the government additional impetus to do it properly.
The opportunity in those forthcoming amendments is not for the federal government to take bad, unconstitutional regulatory legislation and turn it into bad, constitutional legislation. The times demand much more. The act reflected an outdated way of thinking that saw the environment and Indigenous peoples as inherently needing to be protected from the provinces and the resource sector. But the world has changed.
Now we need to build: to meet net-zero goals, to supply our allies with energy and critical minerals, to compete with the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, to bolster our anemic economy – take your pick. Where we once applied sticks to major energy and resource projects, we now need to offer carrots. This needs to be reflected in the amendments to the IAA.
In the Liberal government’s news conference responding to the opinion, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson expressed hope that this would be the last time the federal and provincial governments settled their differences in court, saying “Canada works best when Canadians work together.”
Let’s all hope that happens.
A large and critical part of Canada’s economy has found itself in the crosshairs of jurisdictional infighting. It has created polarization and uncertainty, and investors and proponents of projects abhor it. Our country needs and deserves a functional regulatory process – one that doesn’t just prevent bad projects, but advances good ones, too. The Supreme Court’s decision is an opening to create one.
Heather Exner-Pirot is director of energy, natural resources and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
2025 Federal Election
MORE OF THE SAME: Mark Carney Admits He Will Not Repeal the Liberal’s Bill C-69 – The ‘No Pipelines’ Bill

From EnergyNow.Ca
Mark Carney on Tuesday explicitly stated the Liberals will not repeal their controversial Bill C-69, legislation that prevents new pipelines being built.
Carney has been campaigning on boosting the economy and the “need to act forcefully” against President Donald Trump and his tariffs by harvesting Canada’s wealth of natural resources — until it all fell flat around him when he admitted he actually had no intention to build pipelines at all.
When a reporter asked Carney how he plans to maintain Bill C-69 while simultaneously building infrastructure in Canada, Carney replied, “we do not plan to repeal Bill C-69.”
“What we have said, formally at a First Ministers meeting, is that we will move for projects of national interest, to remove duplication in terms of environmental assessments and other approvals, and we will follow the principle of ‘one project, one approval,’ to move forward from that.”
“What’s essential is to work at this time of crisis, to come together as a nation, all levels of government, to focus on those projects that are going to make material differences to our country, to Canadian workers, to our future.”
“The federal government is looking to lead with that, by saying we will accept provincial environmental assessments, for example clean energy projects or conventional energy projects, there’s many others that could be there.”
“We will always ensure these projects move forward in partnership with First Nations.”
Tory leader Pierre Poilievre was quick to respond to Carney’s admission that he has no intention to build new pipelines. “This Liberal law blocked BILLIONS of dollars of investment in oil & gas projects, pipelines, LNG plants, mines, and so much more — all of which would create powerful paychecks for our people,” wrote Poilievre on X.
“A fourth Liberal term will block even more and keep us reliant on the US,” he wrote, urging people to vote Conservative.
Alberta
Energy sector will fuel Alberta economy and Canada’s exports for many years to come

From the Fraser Institute
By any measure, Alberta is an energy powerhouse—within Canada, but also on a global scale. In 2023, it produced 85 per cent of Canada’s oil and three-fifths of the country’s natural gas. Most of Canada’s oil reserves are in Alberta, along with a majority of natural gas reserves. Alberta is the beating heart of the Canadian energy economy. And energy, in turn, accounts for one-quarter of Canada’s international exports.
Consider some key facts about the province’s energy landscape, as noted in the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) 2023 annual report. Oil and natural gas production continued to rise (on a volume basis) in 2023, on the heels of steady increases over the preceding half decade. However, the dollar value of Alberta’s oil and gas production fell in 2023, as the surging prices recorded in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine retreated. Capital spending in the province’s energy sector reached $30 billion in 2023, making it the leading driver of private-sector investment. And completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has opened new offshore export avenues for Canada’s oil industry and should boost Alberta’s energy production and exports going forward.
In a world striving to address climate change, Alberta’s hydrocarbon-heavy energy sector faces challenges. At some point, the world may start to consume less oil and, later, less natural gas (in absolute terms). But such “peak” consumption hasn’t arrived yet, nor does it appear imminent. While the demand for certain refined petroleum products is trending down in some advanced economies, particularly in Europe, we should take a broader global perspective when assessing energy demand and supply trends.
Looking at the worldwide picture, Goldman Sachs’ 2024 global energy forecast predicts that “oil usage will increase through 2034” thanks to strong demand in emerging markets and growing production of petrochemicals that depend on oil as the principal feedstock. Global demand for natural gas (including LNG) will also continue to increase, particularly since natural gas is the least carbon-intensive fossil fuel and more of it is being traded in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Against this backdrop, there are reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for Alberta’s energy sector, particularly if the federal government dials back some of the economically destructive energy and climate policies adopted by the last government. According to the AER’s “base case” forecast, overall energy output will expand over the next 10 years. Oilsands output is projected to grow modestly; natural gas production will also rise, in part due to greater demand for Alberta’s upstream gas from LNG operators in British Columbia.
The AER’s forecast also points to a positive trajectory for capital spending across the province’s energy sector. The agency sees annual investment rising from almost $30 billion to $40 billion by 2033. Most of this takes place in the oil and gas industry, but “emerging” energy resources and projects aimed at climate mitigation are expected to represent a bigger slice of energy-related capital spending going forward.
Like many other oil and gas producing jurisdictions, Alberta must navigate the bumpy journey to a lower-carbon future. But the world is set to remain dependent on fossil fuels for decades to come. This suggests the energy sector will continue to underpin not only the Alberta economy but also Canada’s export portfolio for the foreseeable future.
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