Roundup: Asking about Canadian LNG like it’s a free cookie

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Once again, CTV’s Vassy Kapelos asks a visiting European leader if they’d like Canadian LNG, and spins a whole story out of the fact that they say yes, while absolutely ignoring all of the many reasons why it’s never going to happen. This has happened with at least three leaders now, the latest being the president of Poland, who was visiting Canada last week (the taped interview aired over the weekend), and predictably, the story is making rounds with people insisting that Trudeau is wrong to say there’s no business case for it.

To wit: There is no ready supply of natural gas to be liquified on the East Coast, because they get it shipped from the north-eastern US. Blaine Higgs’ ambitions aside, nobody wants to be fracking in New Brunswick (not the First Nations, not the people who live in the region), and that would mean either paying even more to import American gas to liquefy, or build a pipeline from Alberta (and just as a reminder, Energy East was killed by the proponent because they didn’t have enough contracts to fill it and Keystone XL, and the latter was the surer bet at the time), and it costs money to ship gas across the country in a pipeline like that, which would increase the selling price. Then they would have to build a new export terminal to liquefy said gas, (there is one existing import terminal that could theoretically be converted), but all of this takes years, billions of dollars, and would need guaranteed operations for about 45 years to pay off, which is going to put them past the 2050 Net Zero date for a rapidly decarbonizing Europe to still want the LNG—which would be at a higher price than they can get it from Algeria or the Persian Gulf. That’s why there is no business case. There have been proposals to build terminals on the east coast before, and nobody in Europe wanted to sign a contract to make it a worthwhile investment to pursue. Hell, there are plenty of fully permitted projects on the west coast not moving ahead because nobody wants to sign contracts for the product.

But Kapelos and the CTV team keep ignoring all of these issues when they ask this question, which as one reply on Twitter stated, is like asking someone if they want a free cookie. The most the story says about the feasibility of east coast LNG is “There has been political debate for years around whether Canada could or should plan to export to European countries, as well.” That’s it. Seriously? This is malpractice at this point, and no, this is not because she or anyone is “in the pocket of Poilievre,” or anyone. It’s just lazy journalism, plain and simple. It’s not serving anyone, and frankly, is distracting from the actual issues.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian drones struck a hotel in Mykolaiv on the Black Sea, severely damaging it and local energy infrastructure, but fortunately there were no casualties. Another Russian oil refinery has suspended operations after a Ukrainian drone attack. While Ukraine waits on the arrival of more American aid, their forces have had to fall back from three more villages northwest of Avdiivka.

Good reads:

  • Here is a look back over the prime minister’s podcast tour last week.
  • Anita Anand talks about changing the culture of the civil service, especially by increasing its diversity.
  • Mark Holland says that while he deeply appreciates doctors, the capital gains changes are staying. (We should not be remunerating doctors with tax loopholes!)
  • Aid to Afghanistan is still very slow because of bureaucratic hurdles.
  • The Star has a look at the changed riding boundaries in the GTA, now that they are official, and where that will mean drama with incumbents who plan to run again.
  • Quebec is “going on the offensive” around protecting the French language (and one can only imagine how many rights violations that is going to entail).
  • Kevin Carmichael laments the latest data on our productivity and declining GDP per capita, but sees a few rays of hope among those clouds.
  • Susan Delacourt notes Trudeau’s interviews with American podcasts, how they differ from Canadian ones, and what Trudeau may hope to get out of them.
  • Delacourt and Matt Gurney discuss the future of the Supply and Confidence Agreement between the Liberals and the NDP (with a detour into “Borgen.”)
  • My weekend column suggests that with the capital gains changes should come a major re-think of how we’re paying doctors (particularly those in primary care).

Odds and Ends:

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