Latest news with #GUNTER
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
GOLDSTEIN: Carney's energy minister makes business case for natural gas
Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson says he 'knows there are buyers' for Canada's liquified natural gas (LNG) globally, quite the change in emphasis from former prime minister Justin Trudeau's argument there was no business case for such projects. 'What I can tell you from the conversations that the prime minister has been having, the minister of foreign affairs has been having, the minister of international trade has been having, the conversations I've been having, our allies are very interest in Canadian LNG,' Hodgson said on Tuesday in an interview on The Vassy Kapelos Show. When asked about competition from the U.S, which is ramping up its LNG export capacity, Hodgson responded: 'Our production is much closer to Asian markets. Our production is much cleaner than the Americans in terms of carbon footprint.' That's a turnaround from previous arguments by Trudeau, as a parade of foreign leaders came to Canada seeking Canadian LNG as an alternative to importing LNG from Russia, in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trudeaus said at the time there was no business case for LNG projects — meaning Canada was (and still is) shipping almost all of its natural gas to the U.S. by pipeline at discount prices — although he was talking about Canada's potential capacity to ship LNG to European markets by tanker from Canada's East Coast. That said, Trudeau was generally unenthusiastic about exporting Canada's natural gas abroad, advocating instead for developing alternative energy sources such as green hydrogen. GUNTER: Trudeau cost Canada a chance to get into global LNG game — Trump and U.S. are reaping the benefit LILLEY: Carney promises new trading relationships, can't handle U.S. Since then, one large-scale export facility — LNG Canada — has been completed in Kitimat, B.C. To be fair, this was approved under the Trudeau government. It contributed $275 million to its completion in 2019, describing the $40-billion project as 'the largest single private sector investment in the history of the country … which will ultimately create over 10,000 jobs, as well as lead to billions of dollars in direct government revenues and hundreds of millions of dollars in construction contracts for Indigenous businesses.' It began shipping LNG by tanker to Asian markets in June, the first project of its kind in North America with direct access to the Pacific Coast. There are six other LNG projects currently in the works — all based in B.C. — and if all of them are completed, Canada could have the capacity to ship 50 million tonnes of LNG abroad eventually. However, for that to happen, Prime Minister Mark Carney's government will have to modify or reverse a number of regulations and laws passed by the Trudeau government. This includes a cap on Canada's annual oil and gas emissions; the Impact Assessment Act, dubbed the 'no pipelines bill' by critics; and Canada's current target of lowering our greenhouse gas emissions to at least 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. (According to the latest government data, Canada's emissions as of 2023 were just 8.5% below 2005 levels and on track to miss the 2030 target.) Before Parliament adjourned in June, the Carney government passed the Building Canada Act to speed up the construction of so-called nation-building projects, but the details of what projects it is considering haven't yet been revealed. Finally, despite Trudeau's lack of enthusiasm for natural gas in favour of greener energy sources, replacing coal-fired electricity with natural gas globally would be one of the world's most effective ways of reducing global emissions, since natural gas burns at half the carbon intensity of coal. RECOMMENDED VIDEO
Toronto Sun
24-04-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
GUNTER: Carney's borrowing plans would sink affordability for Canadians
GUNTER: Carney's borrowing plans would sink affordability for Canadians Photo by DAVE CHAN / AFP via Getty Images Article content Taxpayers can't hope that any of the major parties in Monday's election will balance the budget soon, not even the Conservatives. Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account or Sign in without password View more offers Article content Article content Recommended Videos tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or GUNTER: Carney's borrowing plans would sink affordability for Canadians Back to video tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Play Video Article content Indeed, in most Western democracies politicians of all stripes have given up on the idea of making expenditures equal revenues. The best that can be hoped for is reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio. Reducing the percentage of a country's GDP consumed by government debt is important. If the national debt equals 30 per cent of GDP versus 40 per cent, the government will have to borrow less to pay the interest on that debt, leaving more money for banks and investment houses to lend at better rates to individuals and businesses. A lower debt-to-GDP, for instance, should lower the cost of a mortgage, enabling more young people to buy houses. Read More Lorne Gunter: Mark Carney is just an extension of Trudeau-era policies Lorne Gunter: Some voters mistakenly 'wishcasting' desires on Mark Carney's Liberals Your Midday Sun Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Your Midday Sun will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Article content Advertisement 3 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content You would think a man who has been the central banker in two countries would understand this concept. But Liberal Leader Mark Carney — who never tires of reminding us that he was governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England — seems to have missed the lesson on the dulling effect large government debt has on a country's economy. Recently, Carney has been using the campaign line 'spend less, invest more' to describe his Liberals' plan to revive Canada's economy after 10 bleak years under his party's government. Carney actually plans to spend more (not less) than the free-spending Trudeau government did. Over the past 10 years, the Liberals have increased the cost of government by 92 per cent to just over $550 billion a year. Carney proposes to raise that by just about $33 billion more per year, each year for the next four and to do so by running deficits in the $60-billion-a-year range. Advertisement 4 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content And because he also intends to give middle-class Canadians a tax cut, his plan will add $225 billion to the overall national debt. Now, remember the effect the debt-to-GDP ratio has on ordinary Canadians and Canadian businesses' ability to buy things, like houses and cars and to expand and add new employees. Without offering anything more than wishful thinking, Carney says this additional $225 billion in debt will generate $500 billion in additional GDP. Where? How? If the Libs' plan did add $500 billion in GDP, Carney's $225 billion investment might do some good. But the Liberals' new economic growth seems to come mostly from investing in 'green' technology and transitioning from oil and gas to 'clean energy.' Advertisement 5 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Ontario tried that in the 2010s with its Green Energy Act. It achieved no appreciable emissions reductions nor any new jobs to speak of, but it did double Ontarians' electricity costs. The Trudeau Liberals tried that same formula in Ottawa from 2015 onward, with a similar lack of results. And now many of the same people who devised the Ontario and federal 'green' schemes work for Carney and have convinced themselves the third time's the charm. So how can Carney be promising to 'spend less, invest more?' That's where the debt-to-GDP ratio comes in handy. Carney wants to separate Ottawa's operating and capital budgets. Then he intends to put the bulk of his 'investments' into green technology — like the $33 billion Ottawa is spending building battery plants for electric cars no one is buying — and lump them into the capital budget. He hopes you (and the federal government's bankers) won't look at the capital budget, so he can wow you by balancing the feds' operating budget. But whether a government borrows money for operations or capital, the borrowed money still gets added to the debt-to-GDP ratio. So whereas Trudeau planned to lower the all-important ratio to 39 per cent of GDP by 2028, Carney plans to raise it to nearly 43 per cent — and along with it, interest rates, inflation, unemployment and housing prices. 'Spend less, invest more?' The Liberal slogan should be 'Borrow more, afford less.' Article content Share this article in your social network Read Next
