{"id":275380,"date":"2025-11-11T01:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T01:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/275380\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T01:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T01:40:08","slug":"lng-canada-project-underlines-change-in-public-opinion-on-energy-sector-champagne-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/275380\/","title":{"rendered":"LNG Canada project underlines change in public opinion on energy sector, Champagne says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne in Montreal on Nov. 5. He said the expansion of LNG Canada, a liquefied natural gas export terminal in B.C., is a ‘game changer’ for Canada.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The second phase of LNG Canada is a \u201cgame changer\u201d for Canada and underscores how attitudes to energy have changed in recent months, the federal Finance Minister says. <\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne said Monday that Canadians today understand \u201cthe nexus between economic security, energy security and national security\u201d \u2013 a vast change from the general view across the country six or nine months ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there\u2019s more openness to an Energy Corridor than before,\u201d Mr. Champagne told an afternoon Calgary Chamber of Commerce event. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think people understand that the natural resources sector is key to national prosperity, to investment in the country, to who we are as Canadians in many ways.\u201d <\/p>\n

Next round of major projects to be named Thursday, Carney says<\/a><\/p>\n

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Take LNG Canada, a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Kitimat, B.C., he said. The facility\u2019s co-owners are expected to make a final investment decision<\/a> in 2026 on whether to forge ahead with a Phase 2 expansion, which would double the plant\u2019s total capacity to 28 million tonnes a year. <\/p>\n

\u201cLNG Phase 2 is a game changer,\u201d Mr. Champagne said. \u201cPeople see that we can play a key role in India, in the Pacific. If you want to be at the big table, you have to talk about energy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Global uncertainty and the trade war with the United States has been something of a \u201cwake-up call\u201d for Canada to get its house in order, he said, including around energy security. <\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s federal budget did not answer all of the regulatory questions hovering over Canada\u2019s energy sector. That includes the end of the oil and gas emissions cap, which was floated – but never implemented – by former prime minister Justin Trudeau. Instead, the budget said the cap wouldn\u2019t be needed if the sector takes other measures to cut pollution.<\/p>\n

Mr. Champagne said he believes it provided some of the certainty that the energy sector needs to make investment decisions, but he acknowledged there is still more to do on the regulatory front. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a challenge, he said, but \u201cthis is not the time for half measures. This is not the time to think on the margins.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Champagne was set to speak with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Monday evening, as Alberta and Ottawa work to repair their fractured relationship. <\/p>\n

Pointing to Western Canada\u2019s ambition and economic success, Mr. Champagne said the Calgary-based Major Projects Office sends a message to Alberta \u2013 and the world \u2013 that Canada means business. <\/p>\n

However, he declined to comment on what will be in the next tranche of projects to be referred to the office. That list is slated to be released<\/a> Thursday by Prime Minister Mark Carney in Prince Rupert, B.C. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe already have a number of natural resource projects to build our country, whether it\u2019s in the mining sector, whether it\u2019s in port expansion,\u201d he told media after the event. <\/p>\n

Mr. Champagne\u2019s message to the audience Monday was light on climate, though he doubled down on the importance of trade corridors, saying the budget\u2019s trade corridor infrastructure fund will be key to ensuring products from Alberta \u2013 including oil and gas \u2013 can have access to markets. <\/p>\n

He also said it was important for Canada to embrace the opportunity to develop its critical-minerals sector.<\/p>\n

Very few countries have a critical-minerals mining industry or an oil and gas sector the size of Canada\u2019s, he said. Now, it\u2019s just a matter of \u201creaching our full potential.\u201d <\/p>\n

When it comes to critical minerals specifically, he said, it\u2019s important for government to work alongside the private sector to ensure products make it to market. Oil and gas are the same, he told media after the event, adding that Ottawa aims to attract much-needed investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern Canada has been building for decades,\u201d he said. \u201cMy aim in this budget is really to put the framework for these companies to say, \u2018Yes, we\u2019re going to invest again in Canada, bring our products to market and make sure that at the same time, we create the great jobs.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne in Montreal on Nov. 5. He said the expansion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-275380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}