Carney discusses 'partnerships' with oil and gas executives in Calgary

Prime Minister Mark Carney sat down with oil and gas executives in Calgary Sunday to discuss partnerships and to get their input for his plans to make Canada an energy superpower.

Carney, in his first visit to Calgary since being sworn in as prime minister, held a closed door roundtable with more than two dozen members of the energy sector.

Attendees included Tourmaline Oil CEO Michael Rose, Pathways Alliance President Kendall Dilling, ATCO CEO Nancy Southern, Imperial Oil President John Whelan and Jon McKenzie, president of Cenovus Energy.

Reporters were only allowed to hear a few comments from the prime minister before being asked to leave the room at the Harry Hays building.

"Thank you for convening on a Sunday morning and also for what you've all been doing to help build our country...build our economy, build a future," Carney said.

"I'd like to thank a number of you who wrote directly to me a month or so ago and I felt it would be best to get together and discuss it in much more detail than through an exchange of letters given the importance of the issues."

Thirty-eight CEOs of Canadian energy companies signed a letter congratulating Carney on his April 28 election win and pitching policy measures they say would help the prime minister make good on his promise to build the fastest-growing economy in the G7.

That would include scrapping the federal emissions gap on oil and gas producers and repealing industrial carbon pricing to help bolster the industry.

The CEOs want an overhaul of the Impact Assessment Act, which sets out the process for assessing major projects, and of the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which bans oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of crude from stopping along parts of British Columbia's coastline.

Carney campaigned on expediting reviews of major energy infrastructure projects. He promised before the election to move forward with a "one project, one review" approach by recognizing assessments conducted by the provinces and territories.

The federal government unveiled its proposed emissions cap regulations late last year. They would compel upstream oil and gas operations to reduce emissions to 35 per cent below where they were in 2019 by sometime between 2030 and 2032.

"Partnership is a theme for our discussion this morning," Carney said, accompanied by Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada and U.S. trade and Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski.

"It's a critical time for our country. The world's certainly more divided and dangerous and the imperative of making Canada an energy superpower in all respects has never been greater. We will do everything we can at the federal government level to support those partnerships."

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was asked on her weekend radio show if she was concerned that the federal throne speech didn't include a mention of pipelines.

"He may not have said the words 'oil and gas' and he may not have said the word 'pipeline,' but conventional energy means oil and gas, and the only way to get it to market efficiently is through pipelines," said Smith, who says she's hoping for a one-on-one with Carney at Monday's First Ministers conference in Saskatoon.

Smith also praised Carney for being more willing to engage with the premiers on issues of national importance than his predecessor Justin Trudeau. She was coy when asked about consequences if Carney doesn't deliver, saying she prefers to be optimistic.

Carney also took a moment on Sunday to thank the Department of National Defence, the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and volunteers involved in fighting extensive wildfires and co-ordinating large-scale evacuations.

"The good news is those are proceeding well at this stage but of course it's not over until it's over and we're at the start of the forest fire season across the country," he said. "So we'll stay committed to doing everything that we can with partners."