(Above Ground, Ottawa, 22 July 2020) Canada’s oil and gas sector could receive billions of dollars in public financial aid as a result of Ottawa’s COVID-19 economic response package. The new sums are in addition to the billions of dollars in routine loans and other supports that the industry receives annually through federal export bank Export Development Canada (EDC), which has been given a significant role in delivering this new federal aid. Above Ground, Environmental Defence and Oil Change International have submitted a joint brief to the Senate and House of Commons finance committees that are studying the COVID-19 response measures. The submission outlines EDC’s role in Ottawa’s oil and gas bailout and makes recommendations to align the government’s economic support measures with Canada’s climate commitments. The UN has warned of catastrophic consequences if the world, and particularly G20 countries, do not dramatically upscale their decarbonization efforts to achieve a 55% cut in global emissions within the decade. With Canada on track to widely miss its inadequate 2030 emissions target, it is more urgent than ever for Ottawa to impose robust climate conditions on all forms of federal aid. This aid must serve to accelerate, rather than delay, the transition to a low-carbon economy. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and Chair of The Elders, in a July 29 Globe and Mail article, notes that Canada commits more public financing to support fossil fuels than any G20 country other than China, an average US$10.6-billion of annual support to oil and gas firms via Export Development Canada.

(Above Ground, Ottawa, 4 May 2020) 2020 is a pivotal year for wealthy nations to ramp up their climate action plans, spelling out how they’ll make the deep emissions cuts needed between now and 2030. Instead, states are bolstering the very industries that must be phased out to avert disastrous climate breakdown, as high-carbon sectors push for government aid in response to the economic crisis. Canada’s oil and gas lobby has asked for a bailout of up to $30 billion. On April 17 Ottawa announced a package that includes new loans and guarantees to mid-sized oil and gas firms, to be delivered by Export Development Canada (EDC) and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), as well as funding for clean-up of spent wells and loans for emissions reductions. It also indicated further credit support for the largest oil and gas companies is still being planned. Oil and gas companies also stand to benefit from the aid that Ottawa has made available across sectors, such as the 75% wage subsidy program and the $65 billion Business Credit Availability Program also from EDC and BDC. A broad base of Canadian academics and civil society advocates have argued that economic support measures should directly benefit workers, not companies, and they mustn’t delay the phaseout of an industry that’s fuelling the climate emergency, which already claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year. Observers have long called attention to the lack of transparency in EDC’s operations, with a recent Globe and Mail exposé reporting a “pattern of secrecy” and “lax supervision” of the agency by the federal government.

(Toronto Star, Ottawa, 4 May 2020) EDC will lend between $250 and $500 million to build the Coastal GasLink, a natural gas pipeline that sparked a national protest movement and reckoning over the Liberal administration’s commitment to Indigenous reconciliation. The company building the 670-km pipeline, Calgary-based TC Energy, said in a statement to the Star that the deal includes a “syndicate of banks” that will fund the majority of the $6.6-billion project’s construction cost. The deal is entirely unwelcome to Na’Moks, a hereditary chief of the Wet’suwet’en nation in northern British Columbia. The Wet’suwe’ten opposition gained national prominence after RCMP arrests this winter triggered a huge solidarity movement that saw Mohawk demonstrators block rail lines in Ontario and Quebec and supporters stage rallies in cities across the country. Some elected band councils signed agreements to support the project but the Wet’suwe’ten traditional leadership has spearheaded opposition to the pipeline for years.