Roundup: Salivating over magical LNG terminals

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With the visit of German chancellor Olaf Scholz to Canada, there has been no shortage of media salivating at the narrative of Canada somehow sending liquified natural gas (LNG) to Europe to displace Russian supply, and they keep going on about it. Power & Politics had an interview with Scholz, and the first third of it was spent with Vassy Kapelos hectoring Scholz about whether he wanted Canadian LNG, and if he told the Quebec government to stop opposing pipelines, and I’m being serious that she actually asked him this, as though he wasn’t going to diplomatically tell her that it wasn’t his place to tell them that (which he did). And while he said sure, Canadian LNG would be great, there is no way that’s going to happen. There is no infrastructure to do so. Building it takes three to five years, and even then, if there is a steady supply (good luck with that, because it’ll drive up costs for product domestically), it’ll take 25 to 30 years to make those investments in that infrastructure pay off, and we’d be well past 2050 then. (I wrote a column on this recently). It would quite literally be investing in a stranded asset. But that won’t stop Canadian media outlets from pounding on this narrative drum, over and over again. You would think that reporters and TV hosts might have done some homework to realize that there is no business case, so you look foolish by pursuing this dead-end line of questioning, but apparently not.

https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/1562196541451800576

https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/1562198870243028993

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 181:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is vowing of a “powerful response” if Russia attacks the country on its Independence Day, which also will mark six months since the illegal invasion began. And American intelligence is also warning that something may happen, which is why they are urging their nationals leave the country. Russians did conduct air strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region, not far from the nuclear plant, and they have been shelling near Kharkiv in the northeast. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada says that they are investigating 28,000 war crimes, including child deaths.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau and Olaf Scholz signed agreements with Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz to secure access to Canadian raw materials for EV parts and batteries.
  • The two leaders also signed an agreement on hydrogen, with the expectation that Canada will to start delivering around 2025 (tough that timeline is ambitious).
  • Trudeau also announced the creation of a special team to counter Russian propaganda (though there are questions about three previous similar promises).
  • Jean-Yves Duclos has reinstated the position of federal chief nursing officer to help advocate for issues facing the healthcare systems in this country.
  • Mona Fortier says there are no plans to extend the federal civil service bilingualism bonus to Indigenous languages (as she doesn’t want to go to war with Quebec).
  • Temporary changes to EI during the pandemic will expire next month.
  • The Château Laurier believe they have narrowed the timeframe to the Karsh portrait theft, and believe it was a professional job because of the tools required.
  • Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said he was in touch with the minister’s office when the antisemitic tweets of the “anti-racism” contractor surfaced.
  • Preston Manning is warning that the Liberals are likely to try and undermine Poilievre using the words of his own party members against him.
  • The Green Party has rejected a would-be leadership candidate for refusing to take a French test.
  • The Quebec election launches “for real” on Sunday.
  • Doug Ford’s government plans to replace electricity generation from an aging nuclear plant with natural gas by 2025, because they cancelled green projects.
  • Colby Cosh looks askance at BC NDP leader-presumptive David Eby’s musing about a forced drug-treatment bill that would apply to adults who overdosed.
  • My column points out that as much as the government needs to protect liberal democratic institutions, they also need to communicate the need to protect them.

Odds and ends:

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4 thoughts on “Roundup: Salivating over magical LNG terminals”

  1. And while he said sure, Canadian LNG would be great, there is no way that’s going to happen. There is no infrastructure to do so.

    It took me a good 30 seconds to call up a pipeline map and realize this visit was a farce. Scholz is under a lot of pressure back home. I wonder if this visit was a “I’m doing something” visit. It certainly is not going to do anything to keep Germany warm this winter. We would be better shipping firewood.

    • The visit was more centred around longer-term commitments for things like green hydrogen, but that won’t flow until 2025 at least. Nobody is actually talking immediate help, except the fantasy LNG boosters.

  2. nkT you Dale for being one of Canada’s only credible Political analysts and Journalists.
    I watched Vassy “hectoring” Chancellor Scholz, and was embarassed to be a Canadian. How low is CBC prepared to take us!

  3. Vassy needs to be reined in by her bosses. One of these days she is going to find it hard to get any government :GUESTS: She can then spend her time interviewing rightwing radicals who spew anti Government BS and have discovered that on her “show” they can get away with it. She and her handlers knew full well that Scholz and Trudeau were not discussing natural gas plants but new hydrogen producing technology which could if needed by Germany be beneficial as well as Camaca. The main idea of producing hydrogen is that it is the cleanest type of power and can be made using wind power of which Newfoundland has ample wind thus ample supply. I don’t watch Kapelos any more. I just wait for others to publish her gaffes.

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