Leong: Federal Liberals need to get their act together on energy and climate – Calgary Sun

It is a cruel irony that a would-be oilsands miner is forcing Canada to finally have an honest discussion on energy and environmental policies.

In a letter addressed to the federal government, CEO and president of Vancouver-based Teck Resources Don Lindsay withdrew the companys application to build the multibillion-dollar oilsands Frontier oilsands project near Fort McMurray.

The project, which went through a decade of regulatory hoops, was awaiting final approval from Ottawa this week.

The federal Liberals are surely breathing a sigh of relief, now that theyre off the hook from actually having to make a decision and behave like a government.

But the relief will be short-lived.

The political maelstrom following Tecks announcement came fierce and fast. The federal Liberal government deserves all the flak it is getting not just for its mishandling of the Teck situation directly but also for its laissez-faire attitude regarding the protest blockades over the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia.

That and the general lack of clarity on what Canada wants in terms of balancing energy development and climate change have cast a huge shadow on the now-shelved Frontier mine.

As CEO Lindsay politely put it in his letter: The growing debate around this issue has placed Frontier and our company squarely at the nexus of much broader issues that need to be resolved.

But if you read all the way to the bottom of Lindsays letter, youll find the decision is about much more than getting out of that nexus.

We support strong actions to enable the transition to a low carbon future. We are also strong supporters of Canadas action on carbon pricing and other climate policies such as legislated caps for oil sands emissions, he wrote.

The promise of Canadas potential will not be realized until governments can reach agreement around how climate policy considerations will be addressed in the context of future responsible energy sector development.

He is hardly alone among business leaders with that type of messaging.

Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, offered this advice on social media Sunday night to help break the seemingly endless deadlock on energy projects.

All sides accept carbon pricing as (the) best way of addressing climate change; all sides accept that oil remains in high demand (and) Canadian oil is world-class; priority given to reconciliation with Indigenous communities.

Speaking of Indigenous communities, the Frontier project much like the Coastal GasLink pipeline received the support of the 14 First Nations near the proposed mine.

Last week, Alberta Environment Minister Jason Nixon told Postmedia columnist Chris Varcoe his government was prepared to institute the regulations for an oilsands emissions cap so long as it was done in such a way that continues to allow our industry to succeed.

The only thing left would be how Alberta can manage carbon pricing in a way all relevant parties will accept. (And for those who dont know, Alberta already has a form of carbon pricing. The disagreement is about whether its good enough.)

Real, measurable progress was being made on balancing climate change with producing energy.

But despite this seemingly universal willingness to address carbon emissions, reduce the oilsands environmental impact and involve First Nations in every step along the way, there is still the problem that caused Teck to walk away from its proposed mine: it is still possible for an energy company and its partners to do everything right in support of a project but still have it rejected.

This is solely within the federal governments power to correct assuming it actually wants to.

rleong@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @RickyLeongYYC

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Leong: Federal Liberals need to get their act together on energy and climate - Calgary Sun