‘Energy is Canada’s power’: New federal energy minister touts past Alberta
The new federal energy minister delivered a boisterous speech in support of the country’s energy sector on Friday morning, while highlighting his past involvement in the sector and the urgent need to build a variety of new energy projects.
Tim Hodgson spoke to a business crowd, which gave him loud applause at a sold-out event in downtown Calgary as part of his first appearance since the cabinet appointment by Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“Energy is power. Energy is Canada’s power. It gives us an opportunity to build the strongest economy in the G7, guide the world in the right direction, and be strong when we show up at a negotiation table,” said Hodgson in his speech.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Hodgson served as a reserve officer in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1979 to 1985. Hodgson is most-known as a former banker with Goldman Sachs who served as an adviser to Carney at the Bank of Canada.
Hodgson’s resumé also includes the role of board chair at Hydro One, Ontario’s public electricity provider.
Still, for those in the oilpatch, his most relevant career experience was the three years he spent as a board member with MEG Energy, one of the top-15 largest oil and gas producers in Canada and one that operates an oilsands facility in Alberta.
“At Goldman, one of my first major deals is also one of the deals I am still the proudest of today:
The Alliance Pipeline.”
Mark Carney has named Ontario Liberal MP Tim Hodgson the new federal minister of energy. The CBC’s Acton Clarkin has more on how Hodgson could set a new course for Alberta’s relationship with Ottawa over natural resources.
Alliance is a pipeline that transports natural gas from Alberta and British Columbia to the Chicago area.
“We helped get that project off the ground,” Hodgson said.
“That pipeline closed the natural gas price differential, supported jobs, and brought Alberta better royalties and the federal government more revenue. A better price for Canadian energy helped every Canadian — just like more recently, with the building of the TMX expansion.”
The federal government under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline project and built the expansion pipeline to transport oil from Edmonton to an export terminal near Vancouver.
“I want to be very clear. In the new economy we are building, Canada will no longer be defined by delay. We will be defined by delivery,” he said.
Trudeau introduced several policies aimed at reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, including the proposed emissions cap on the oil and gas sector, which represents 30 per cent of the country’s…
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