Accelerate the transition to green energy, without curbing the world’s appetite for fossil fuels. Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s third budget promises to both “build the clean energy of the 21st century” while continuing to exploit Canadian oil and natural gas to meet Europe’s needs and America.
On the sidelines of the recent COP27, Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbault reiterated Canada’s commitment “to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2023”.
“We are more than ever determined to support the global transition to cleaner and renewable forms of energy, declared Minister Guilbault, by freeing ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels. »
We have made commitments and we will do what we promised.
Passing through Quebec on Wednesday, as part of her pre-budget pilgrimage, the Deputy Prime Minister added a “but” to this promise.
“We made commitments and we are going to do what we promised, repeated Chrystia Freeland. But it’s also important to understand that today the world needs Canada’s natural resources. »
Both the war in Ukraine and the pandemic have cast a harsh light on “the risks of economic dependence on dictatorships”, insisted the Deputy Prime Minister. “It is very important for us to invest in the green transition, but we also have a responsibility to help our allies and that is what Canada is doing. »
A budget written in green ink
Chrystia Freeland had chosen the head office of Flo, a Quebec electric charging station company, to deliver her speech, in which she hammered home the importance, for Canada, of adopting a strong and sustainable “industrial policy”. .
In the United States, such a policy is already on track. Adopted in 2022, the ambitious Inflation Reduction Act disburse 500 billion US dollars to boost the production of green energy, reduce the cost of health care and alleviate the burden of the poorest.
White House tenant Joe Biden is arriving in Ottawa on Thursday as part of his first official visit to Canada since being elected president. On Wednesday, Chrystia Freeland hinted that she had dipped her pen in the same inkwell as her American counterparts to write the budget expected on Tuesday.
“We are really going to make significant investments for the green economy in the budget,” said Canada’s great moneymaker. Other countries have understood that creating a green economy presents a great economic opportunity. We have a choice to make: invest more in the green economy or leave this opportunity to others. For me, the choice is obvious. »
An oil past under the Liberals
Since the advent of the Liberals in 2015, this choice has not always seemed so obvious. The duty revealed, in August 2021, that the Canadian fossil fuel sector had benefited from federal assistance of nearly $ 10.7 billion per year, on average, since Justin Trudeau took the reins of the country.
More recently, Ottawa also approved the controversial Baie du Nord drilling project off the coast of Newfoundland last year, in addition to auctioning nearly 100,000 km2 of new exploration permits in the marine environment.
The federal government still spends astronomical sums to benefit the oil and gas industry. The expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, bought by Ottawa in 2018 from the private Kinder Morgan, is on its own to swallow up $ 31 billion in public funds. Its resale, according to several experts, will not cover more than half of it.
“Our investments in the green economy are important for two reasons,” said the federal minister on Wednesday, barely two days after the publication of a worrying IPCC report. “For the planet, because we really need to reduce emissions. And for the economic side, because I really believe that we can compare this moment to the industrial revolution. This is a big, big shift: Canada must decide today if we want to be part of this global transformation. »
Answer Tuesday.