Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he would meet the five policy recommendations recently outlined by Canadian energy companies in a letter they sent to all major party leaders last week.
“We need to get out from under America’s thumb and start building the infrastructure that is essential to sell our natural resources to new markets, bring home jobs and dollars, and make us sovereign and self-reliant to stand up to Trump from a position of strength,” Poilievre said in an April 1 statement.
A group of 14 energy CEOs had asked the leaders in a March 19 letter to declare an “energy crisis” and use the associated emergency powers to relax regulations within the industry and increase production levels. The CEOs also outlined a number of policies that they said would “support oil and natural gas investment and remove the barriers we have imposed on ourselves over time.”
At a press conference in St. John’s, N.L., Poilievre said the companies’ five demands would allow Canada to reduce its energy dependence on the United States. The Conservative leader said his government would reduce wait times for permits for energy projects to six months.
“It now takes 17 years to get a mine approved, while other countries do it in mere months,” Poilievre said on April 1. “What do you learn in year 16 that you couldn’t have learned in the fourth month of a review?”
Poilievre said he would also get rid of the Liberal government’s proposed greenhouse gas cap on emissions for the oil sector. The regulations would establish a national cap-and-trade system for the oil and gas sector, putting emissions at 27 percent below the reported emissions levels in 2026, with an ultimate goal of lowering the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050.
Poilievre argued the cap would “prevent our industry from growing, and even force it to shrink in size, because the policy is to reduce the output of the industry.”
The federal government has said the cap and trade policy will lower pollution levels and help fight climate change, while also encouraging clean innovation and the adoption of technologies like carbon capture, utilization, and storage.
The Parliamentary Budget Office has said the cap could lead to the loss of 54,400 jobs and 0.39 percent being shaved off Canada’s GDP by 2032.
The Tory leader also reiterated that he would get rid of the carbon tax entirely, including the federal legislation that requires provinces to impose an industrial carbon tax. While Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a directive cutting the carbon tax rate to zero shortly after assuming office on March 14, he has pledged to replace it with a system that rewards Canadians for making greener choices, while making “big polluters pay” for the incentives.
Poilievre also said his government would also establish a Canadian Indigenous Opportunities Corporation to offer loan guarantees for First Nations communities. Poilievre said this indigenous-led corporation would ensure that the communities benefit from the development of natural resources projects, with the money being invested in schools, hospitals and drinking water infrastructure.
Impact Assessment Act
Poilievre also pledged to get rid of the Impact Assessment Act, previously known as Bill C-69, which gave Ottawa the power to evaluate major infrastructure projects like pipeline projects and new mines. The Tory leader said the legislation, which was dubbed the “no more pipelines act” bill by former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, has made it “impossible to build the pipelines and energy infrastructure Canada needs.”The Supreme Court of Canada in October 2023 ruled that the act was “largely unconstitutional,” prompting the federal government to amend the legislation. The Alberta government has said the amendments did not go far enough, and in November 2024 filed a second legal challenge of the legislation.
Poilievre also said he would scrap Bill C-48, which prevents ships holding 12,500 metric tons of oil from operating in the waters off the north of B.C.’s coast, which he said would allow the country to “build new pipelines and LNG terminals to export our energy overseas, ending our economic dependence on the United States.”
The Conservative leader called on Carney to support the energy CEO’s five requests.
During a press conference held later the same day in Winnipeg, Carney was asked if he planned to repeal the Impact Assessment Act.
Carney said his government does “not plan to repeal” it but would work to “remove duplication” on environmental assessments and other approvals for projects of national interest.
“We will follow, as the federal government, the principle of ‘one project, one approval’ to move forward,” he said.
“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.”
Carney has vowed to use both “clean and conventional energy,” and following a meeting with Canada’s premiers on March 21 he pledged to develop a national trade and economic corridor through a “First Mile Fund” to build transportation networks connecting energy extraction sites to rail lines and roads.
