Article content Dominic LeBlanc’s office is clarifying comments the federal minister made about wanting to see New Brunswick develop its own natural gas resources. LeBlanc’s office is instead stating that the New Brunswick MP would support the Holt government if it was to lift the province’s shale gas moratorium. But it adds that the decision is the province’s alone to make.
The comments follow clear words from federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson to Brunswick News last month that pursuing an LNG export terminal in New Brunswick would be “more economic” if New Brunswick developed its own natural gas. That’s compared to any plan that would pipe natural gas across the country from Alberta, an idea the Holt government continues to pursue. Earlier this week, French-language newspaper L’Acadie Nouvelle reported that LeBlanc “totally agrees” with Hodgson’s assessment.
The article then suggested that LeBlanc was “encouraging” the Holt government to lift the province’s moratorium on gas extraction. “If the New Brunswick government decides, on its own initiative, to develop the province’s natural gas and build an export terminal, it will have a very enthusiastic federal partner,” LeBlanc said in French. “It would be a major project for the province and very good for the Canadian economy.” In a statement to Brunswick News, LeBlanc’s press secretary Gabriel Brunet clarified those comments.
“With respect to New Brunswick’s moratorium on shale gas development, Minister LeBlanc has been very clear: it is up to the Government of New Brunswick to decide whether or not to lift it,” Brunet said. “Should they decide to do so, the government of Canada would be supportive of that decision.” LeBlanc’s comments on a domestic supply of gas in New Brunswick were enough to raise questions from opposition parties inside the provincial legislature on Wednesday. “The prime minister of Canada and two of his most influential ministers are now urging the provincial premier to lift the moratorium,” charged Progressive Conservative Finance critic Don Monahan during question period.
“At the same time, our premier and our government are creating a real financial disaster and are not offering any clear solution. “Can the premier tell the House whether the prime minister of Canada has made natural gas development a condition of any financial assistance?” Holt government Natural Resources Minister John Herron stood to respond that the province is pushing ahead with natural resource development, but instead citing the forestry sector and its efforts to resurrect a mining industry. Monahan shot back: “Well, the biggest natural resource in this province is natural gas.
I don’t understand why we are not unlocking the cherry on the cake.” He then called on Premier Susan Holt to reveal what, if any, conversations she’s had with Prime Minister Mark Carney surrounding the development of natural gas reserves and the existing moratorium. Holt instead stood to highlight the Carney government’s decision to consider the province’s Sisson mine project in the national interest. That’s while referencing efforts to see the feds spend on infrastructure, including the Port of Saint John and the Port of Belledune and at Base Gagetown.
Green Leader David Coon also stood in the legislature on Wednesday to say that “burning fossil gas, gasoline, oil and coal is driving climate change at an accelerating rate.” “Dominic LeBlanc is encouraging the New Brunswick Liberals to lift the moratorium on fracking fossil gas, just as the Tory opposition is doing,” Coon said. “The question is ‘who is going to pay for the consequences of burning all this gas? LeBlanc?
The Liberals? The Tories? No, the most vulnerable in this world and in this country will be the ones who pay with their lives and their livelihoods.” Speaking to reporters, Holt said she “understands” why LeBlanc wants to see the federal government achieve its objective of growing international exports, including natural gas, while finding ways for New Brunswick to participate.
But she added that the moratorium is still in place, with clear conditions regarding First Nations and the need for environmental protections and social licence. “So there is clearly work to be done,” Holt said in French, pivoting to say her government is pursuing economic growth and development of the province’s resources in the mining sector. The premier continued that First Nations chiefs have expressed interest in revisiting the topic of natural gas development, suggesting they are consulting experts on the file.
“And certainly, we are here for discussions with First Nations in an open and collaborative way,” she said. “We have been working since we became a government to improve relationships with New Brunswick First Nations.” Holt added that includes partnerships on economic development projects in energy, referencing wind development, small modular nuclear reactions, solar, and biomass. Still, the comments side step whether federal pressure is causing the Holt government to reconsider its moratorium.
That’s as missed opportunities become noticeable. Hodgson announced last month that Canada had signed an agreement with Germany’s state-owned SEFE group, which stands for Securing Energy for Europe, to supply up to one million metric tons of liquefied natural gas per year from B.C.’s proposed KSI Lisims export facility. To get it to Germany, the gas will likely be shipped all the way down the western seaboard and through the Panama Canal before heading across the North Atlantic.
That’s as Canada’s burgeoning western LNG export industry is geographically more suited to supplying Asia. But all of the country’s emerging LNG export capacity – and developed natural gas – is located on the country’s west coast. Meanwhile, the east sits with little infrastructure beyond Repsol’s underused Saint John import terminal.
Hodgson was then asked why natural gas isn’t being piped across the country and shipped over the Atlantic, when the west coast is three oceans and a sea away from Germany. “It’s much cheaper to move LNG over water in a tanker than it is to pay tolls to ship it all across the country,” Hodgson said. “It’s all about economics.
“When Germany looked at where it could find sources of LNG it looked at the relative economics and saw British Columbia as an attractive place for them to have a new source of LNG.”
