The Prague Post - Canada torn between economy, climate in deciding oil project

EUR -
AED 4.303228
AFN 81.923031
ALL 97.909719
AMD 450.171953
ANG 2.096976
AOA 1074.487442
ARS 1469.906879
AUD 1.794206
AWG 2.109136
AZN 1.999097
BAM 1.952812
BBD 2.36751
BDT 142.865081
BGN 1.956194
BHD 0.441689
BIF 3493.476377
BMD 1.171742
BND 1.499089
BOB 8.09162
BRL 6.38623
BSD 1.172657
BTN 100.430197
BWP 15.654757
BYN 3.837305
BYR 22966.148894
BZD 2.355312
CAD 1.60343
CDF 3381.648779
CHF 0.932675
CLF 0.028783
CLP 1104.543443
CNY 8.406137
CNH 8.419173
COP 4747.466217
CRC 592.777215
CUC 1.171742
CUP 31.051171
CVE 110.844284
CZK 24.62897
DJF 208.806749
DKK 7.460554
DOP 70.355427
DZD 151.979693
EGP 58.199616
ERN 17.576134
ETB 162.732892
FJD 2.633784
FKP 0.863301
GBP 0.861412
GEL 3.175237
GGP 0.863301
GHS 12.189053
GIP 0.863301
GMD 83.77774
GNF 10169.893454
GTQ 9.00046
GYD 245.007696
HKD 9.198218
HNL 30.661649
HRK 7.536664
HTG 153.898122
HUF 400.449921
IDR 19043.155705
ILS 3.925073
IMP 0.863301
INR 100.421007
IQD 1536.081823
IRR 49359.64357
ISK 143.011291
JEP 0.863301
JMD 187.151234
JOD 0.830746
JPY 171.786824
KES 151.507599
KGS 102.468664
KHR 4708.024801
KMF 492.716372
KPW 1054.5423
KRW 1612.756825
KWD 0.357885
KYD 0.977198
KZT 609.283796
LAK 25260.767597
LBP 105061.138103
LKR 352.496985
LRD 235.101302
LSL 20.85478
LTL 3.45985
LVL 0.708775
LYD 6.333688
MAD 10.551579
MDL 19.845889
MGA 5178.92726
MKD 61.542715
MMK 2460.081593
MNT 4204.866527
MOP 9.481136
MRU 46.568354
MUR 53.067974
MVR 18.04166
MWK 2033.178856
MXN 21.792886
MYR 4.981087
MZN 74.944607
NAD 20.85478
NGN 1795.296721
NIO 43.151062
NOK 11.826043
NPR 160.688716
NZD 1.952949
OMR 0.450535
PAB 1.171018
PEN 4.153238
PGK 4.916982
PHP 66.250171
PKR 333.35795
PLN 4.239311
PYG 9345.064305
QAR 4.265851
RON 5.076338
RSD 117.128528
RUB 91.628726
RWF 1694.34904
SAR 4.394767
SBD 9.768727
SCR 17.19417
SDG 703.628272
SEK 11.143369
SGD 1.500779
SHP 0.920805
SLE 26.369196
SLL 24570.854255
SOS 670.161186
SRD 43.733523
STD 24252.699675
SVC 10.259875
SYP 15235.145419
SZL 20.846682
THB 38.323037
TJS 11.262367
TMT 4.112815
TND 3.415494
TOP 2.744335
TRY 46.925742
TTD 7.955352
TWD 34.175011
TZS 3069.964632
UAH 48.977755
UGX 4209.559576
USD 1.171742
UYU 47.019267
UZS 14863.921153
VES 131.572362
VND 30626.414118
VUV 139.793453
WST 3.226231
XAF 655.821156
XAG 0.03215
XAU 0.000356
XCD 3.166692
XDR 0.815631
XOF 655.821156
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.385812
ZAR 20.926173
ZMK 10547.081684
ZMW 28.405116
ZWL 377.300539
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Canada torn between economy, climate in deciding oil project
Canada torn between economy, climate in deciding oil project

Canada torn between economy, climate in deciding oil project

Eco warrior turned Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, picked by Justin Trudeau five months ago to guide Canada's climate policy, will soon face his first major test in deciding on a new offshore oil project.

Text size:

Norwegian firm Equinor is seeking to develop oil discoveries in the Flemish Pass Basin, some 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of St. Johns, Newfoundland.

Its proposed Bay du Nord project promises to create thousands of jobs and generate Can$3.5 billion (US$2.8 billion) in royalties for the Atlantic island province, rescuing its floundering economy.

But exploiting an estimated 300 million barrels of oil over 30 years would set back efforts to curb climate change.

Oil market turmoil caused by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions against the Russian energy sector could further complicate matters.

Guilbeault, a longtime activist who scaled Toronto's CN Tower in 2001 to draw attention to climate change, is to announce a decision in the coming weeks.

Environmentalists say this will be a "real test" of his and Prime Minister Trudeau's climate bona fides.

The Trudeau administration faces "a very big dilemma," Pierre-Olivier Pineau, an energy policy expert at HEC Montreal business school, told AFP.

"If I had to bet, I think there is a slightly higher chance that he rejects the project," he said, opining that the government needs to show itself to be taking real climate actions, especially after being thrashed in 2018 for salvaging construction of a major pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific coast.

"If he rejects (Bay du Nord), this sends a message reinforcing Canada's image of being a champion in the fight against climate change," Pineau explained.

Equiterre, an environmental advocacy group co-created by Guilbeault in 1993 following the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro that produced the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said Ottawa must reject Bay du Nord.

"Canada is far from meeting its greenhouse gas reduction targets," Equiterre analyst Emile Boisseau-Bouvier told AFP.

The Trudeau government last year enhanced its Paris Agreement target to reduce carbon emissions by 40-45 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. But it is still short of EU and US goals.

"It is not by betting on a moribund industry that we are going to solve the (climate) problem," said Boisseau-Bouvier, explaining that "the next few weeks will be pivotal" for Canada, as it also prepares to unveil a plan to reach its emissions target.

- Climate politics -

Trudeau's Liberals in the last election won six out of seven House of Commons seats in Newfoundland, out of a total 338 seats.

Those six -- including former resources minister Seamus O'Regan, who is now labor minister -- have lobbied fiercely for approval of the oil project, but have reportedly faced pushback within the Liberal caucus.

With the highest unemployment rate in the country, Newfoundland needs the economic boost Bay du Nord would provide -- especially after reduced oil demand and prices related to pandemic restrictions on travel brought construction of another offshore oil project to a halt in 2020.

Ottawa had provided Newfoundland's oil industry Can$320 million in aid back then.

Newfoundland Premier Andrew Furey said he has pressed Trudeau on "the importance of this project to our province," calling it "critical" to the regional economy.

After a four-year environmental review, Ottawa has twice in recent months postponed announcing a decision on Bay du Nord.

"Folks are pretty down about the delay," said Paul Barnes, Atlantic director for Canada's Oil and Natural Gas Producers.

Canada's environmental impact agency last August concluded Bay du Nord was "not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects, taking into account the implementation of mitigation measures."

Pineau acknowledged that intuitively approving the project would seem to go "against climate objectives," but argued that rejecting it would see oil investments go elsewhere, "which is not necessarily any better for the climate."

University of Waterloo professor Angela Carter, who researches ecological and political-economic risks of fossil fuel dependence, sees the issue simply.

"We cannot have it both ways," she said. "Canada cannot meet its climate commitments and expand oil and gas production."

N.Simek--TPP