Varcoe: Throne speech confirms 'energy superpower' goal, but what major projects will be fast-tracked by Ottawa?
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The new federal throne speech reconfirmed the Carney government's objective that Canada will become the 'world's leading energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy.'
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To do so will require new investment and infrastructure capable of producing and exporting more energy to the world, and policies that allow it to happen.
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Speaking in Calgary last week, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson also said he wants to see some projects built that are 'quick wins.'
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And he wants to see better supply security in Eastern Canada.
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'The government of Canada has to be really clear what the objective is. If it's leverage and optionality and the maximization of value — and what is the lowest cost and quickest way to do that — I'd say a shorter distance pipeline is the way to think about it,' Kevin Birn, chief analyst of Canadian oil markets for S&P Global Commodity Insights, said Tuesday.
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'If they're talking about energy security for the rest of the country, there might be different considerations . . . What's the clarity of the objective? What's No. 1 here?'
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Those are good questions.
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In Tuesday's throne speech, the answer of how the Carney government will get energy infrastructure built included some signals, but few details.
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The speech, read by King Charles III, said the federal government will work with provinces, territories and Indigenous people to identify projects of national significance that can 'deepen Canada's ties with the world.'
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The Liberal government also reiterated its campaign promise to create a major projects review office and ensure it will issue development decisions within two years, instead of five.
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'This is a federal government that wants to build things,' said Adam Legge, president of the Business Council of Alberta, which held a roundtable meeting with Hodgson on Friday.
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