BUILD CANADA NOW

Update: An Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Canada

April 30, 2025

The Rt. Hon. Mark Carney, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Canada

Dear Prime Minister Carney,

On behalf of Canada’s leading energy companies, please accept our congratulations on your election victory and appointment as Canada’s new Prime Minister.

This moment marks not only the first chapter for your government, but also a vital opportunity for our nation to come together around shared goals and build the trust necessary to get big things done. Together we can Build Canada Now and strengthen economic sovereignty and resilience, by unlocking private sector investment, through responsibly developing Canada’s world class natural resources and supporting climate action to reduce emissions. As business leaders in Canada, we look forward to working constructively with you and your cabinet to achieve our energy sector’s potential and our shared goal to position our country as a global energy superpower.

For context, global prosperity will continue to rely on oil and natural gas for decades to come. Regardless of whether absolute global demand will grow or weaken over time, the natural decline of oil and natural gas production requires ongoing investment to replace that decline. Without continued investment, global supply could fall by more than half within 10 years – the question is, in what producing countries will investment occur, and the economic benefits realized? With abundant resources, a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and responsible energy production, it should be Canada, and it should be now. Canada can be a global energy leader and secure long-term economic prosperity.

We have reviewed your platform for governing Canada, particularly your ambition of building the fastest growing economy in the G7. As a major contributor to the Canadian economy, with significant untapped potential, the energy sector must play a pivotal role in your pursuit of this ambition. Growth in the Canadian oil and natural gas sector supports GDP growth, job creation, and tax revenue. Your focus on fostering energy independence and enhancing Canada’s energy infrastructure and clean technology, requires major sector investment and globally competitive energy and carbon policies. Over the last decade, the layering and complexity of energy policies has resulted in a lack of investor confidence and consequently, a barrier to investment – especially when compared to the United States, which is taking steps to simplify its permitting process.

In March, a subset of us wrote to you and the other federal leaders, outlining an urgent action plan needed to support ongoing and future investment from the energy sector in Canada. We note that many of these issues were talked about in your campaign and are of growing interest for Canadians as is evidenced by recent polling. The bullets below reflect our earlier action plan. Beneath each statement we have described opportunities to work together to deliver on our shared objectives.

“Simplify regulation. The federal government’s Impact Assessment Act and West Coast tanker ban are impeding development and need to be overhauled and simplified. Regulatory processes need to be streamlined, and decisions need to withstand judicial challenges.”
- Current regulatory processes are complex, unpredictable, subjective, and excessively long. These processes inhibit the ability of industry to make timely investments, add unnecessary costs and create uncertainty within capital markets. Aligned with your proposal to streamline the approval process, industry is committed to working with your government to ensure Canada can grow exports of oil and natural gas to other regions.
“Commit to Firm Deadlines for Project Approvals. The federal government needs to reduce regulatory timelines so that major projects are approved within 6 months of application.”
- Your proposal to have all federal regulatory authorities complete reviews of nationally significant projects within a two-year timeframe is a positive step, but insufficient. In our opinion, two years is still too long of a period for review and we must target a 6-month approval process to bring capital back to Canada. Additional clarity with regards to provincial jurisdiction is required. We believe that we can work together to accelerate this even further to accomplish urgent economic growth, while maintaining environmental standards and addressing Indigenous rights.
“Grow production.The federal government’s unlegislated cap on emissions must be eliminated to allow the sector to reach its full potential.”
- We continue to believe the federal government’s cap on emissions creates uncertainty, is redundant, will limit growth and unnecessarily result in production cuts, and stifle infrastructure investments. Together, we can drive investment into emissions reductions by simplifying the regulatory regime, establishing an attractive fiscal environment, and ensuring carbon policies protect our export industries.
“Attract investment. The federal carbon levy on large emitters is not globally cost competitive and should be repealed to allow provincial governments to set more suitable carbon regulations.”
- Recognizing the global nature of oil and natural gas, industry needs clear, competitive, and durable fiscal frameworks, including carbon policy and associated costs, sufficient to secure the required capital and incentivize investment in the sector. The current federal price and stringency trajectory results in uncompetitive costs compared to those we compete with to deliver our products to market. Additionally, the potential benefits of a federal approach, like consistency across jurisdictions and connected carbon markets, has failed to materialize. A solution is to revert to the functioning system where provinces administer the policies and pricing to enable emissions-reduction investments, improve emissions performance, and maintain competitiveness.
“Incent indigenous co-investment opportunities. The federal government needs to provide Indigenous loan guarantees at scale so industry may create infrastructure ownership opportunities to increase prosperity for communities and to ensure that Indigenous communities benefit from development.”
- Your intention of doubling Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program to $10 billion to support infrastructure ownership opportunities and increase prosperity for communities is aligned with our earlier recommendation. That being said, Indigenous loan guarantee programs are only effective if Canada fosters a competitive investment environment. We look forward to working with you on this initiative to grow the prosperity of Indigenous communities and earn their support for our shared ambitions.

The time is now to take action, signalling to the global investment markets that Canada is ready to move forward with achieving our shared vision of Canada as a leading global energy superpower.

We know the decisions in the coming months will have a lasting impact on Canada’s economic sovereignty, economy and global position, and that each of us – governments, industry, and Canadians – has a role to play. We can’t do it without each other.

The energy industry looks forward to working together, with you and your government, on an urgent basis, for the benefit of this country and Canadians nationwide.

Brandon Anderson
President & CEO
NorthRiver Midstream Inc

Doug Bartole
President & CEO
InPlay Oil Corp.

Robert Broen
President & CEO
Athabasca Oil Corporation

Scott Burrows
President and Chief Executive Officer
Pembina Pipeline Corp.

Chris Carlsen
President & COO
Birchcliff Energy Ltd.

Brad W. Corson
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Imperial Oil Ltd.

N. Murray Edwards
Executive Chairman
Canadian Natural Resources Limited

Darlene Gates
President and Chief Executive Officer
MEG Energy Corp.

Paul Hawksworth
President and Chief Executive Officer
Inter Pipeline Ltd.

Tyson Huska
President & CEO
Longshore Resources Ltd.

Mike Lawford
President & CEO
NuVista Energy Ltd.

Chris Mazerolle
President
Chevron Canada Resources

Nicholas McKenna
President
ConocoPhillips Canada

Paul Myers
President
Pacific Canbriam Energy Limited

François Poirier
President and Chief Executive Officer
TC Energy Corp.

Susan Riddell Rose
President & CEO
Rubellite Energy Corp.

Don Simmons
President & CEO
Hemisphere Energy Corporation

Adam Waterous
Executive Chairman, Board of Directors
Strathcona Resources Ltd.

Richard Wyman
President
Chance Oil and Gas Limited

Terry Anderson
President and Chief Executive Officer
ARC Resources Ltd.

Michael Binnion
President & CEO
Questerre Energy Corporation

Craig Bryksa
President and Chief Executive Officer
Veren Inc.

David J. Burton
President & CEO
Lycos Energy Inc.

Paul Colborne
President & CEO
Surge Energy Inc.

Greg Ebel
President and Chief Executive Officer
Enbridge Inc.

Grant Fagerheim
President and Chief Executive Officer
Whitecap Resources Inc.

Bryan Gould
Founder & CEO
Aspenleaf Energy Limited

Philip B. Hodge
President & CEO
Pine Cliff Energy Ltd.

Rich Kruger
President and Chief Executive Officer
Suncor Energy Inc.

Byron Lutes
President
Mancal Energy Inc.

Brendan McCracken
President & CEO
Ovintiv Canada ULC

Jon McKenzie
President and Chief Executive Officer
Cenovus Energy Inc.

Curtis Philippon
President & CEO
Gibson Energy

Mike Rose
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tourmaline Oil Corp.

Brian Schmidt
President & CEO
Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd.

David Spyker
President & CEO
Freehold Royalties Ltd.

Bevin Wirzba
President and Chief Executive Officer
South Bow Corp.

Vern Yu
President & Chief Executive Officer
AltaGas

BUILD CANADA NOW

An Open Letter to the Leaders of Canada’s Political Parties

March 18, 2025

Mark Carney
Leader, Liberal Party of Canada

Pierre Poilievre
Leader, Conservative Party of Canada

Yves-François Blanchet
Leader, Bloc Québécois

Jagmeet Singh
Leader, New Democratic Party

Dear Messrs. Carney, Blanchet, Poilievre, and Singh:

Re: How Canadian energy can help strengthen Canada’s economic sovereignty

We are at a turning point in Canada’s history and national interest. There is increasing public support to urgently grow our energy sector and build energy infrastructure, including new oil and natural gas pipelines and LNG terminals, to expand Canada’s energy exports. These are critically important global commodities. Canadians increasingly see the importance of using our abundant energy to ensure Canada can defend its sovereignty, play a role in the world as a force for good, and improve our overall economic competitiveness and prosperity.

As leaders of Canadian energy companies representing tens of thousands of Canadian workers, we are responsible for the majority of oil and gas production and pipelines in the country. We want to share our perspectives on global energy, our vision for Canada’s role, and what is required to capture this opportunity.

A catalyst for more Canadians wishing to increase production and energy exports has been a desire to fortify Canadian independence through a stronger economy while diversifying our markets. A more prosperous country will not only raise Canadians’ standard of living and create high quality jobs but provide the financial capability for the country to be a more active and relevant international player.

All plausible global outlooks forecast oil and natural gas remaining amongst the world’s largest sources of energy for decades to come. With a strong commitment to environmental stewardship, Canada can be the global leader in ensuring energy security by being the provider of affordable, democratically produced energy to people around the world, including allies with shared values.

A growing Canadian energy sector will also help address the world’s energy poverty emergency. More than 4 billion people, over half the world’s population, live below modern standards of living, which require reliable energy for housing, infrastructure, educations, jobs, and mobility. Energy poverty shrinks as energy grows, which requires affordable and reliable supply. In addition, every year, 8.3 million people die globally due to inadequate access to heating and cooling and indoor air pollution from burning over open fires kerosene, wood, animal dung, crop waste and coal.¹ Canada has the resources to responsibly meet this demand as one of the top five global oil producers and one of only two democratic oil producers in the top ten.

At the same time, Canadian energy can help address global carbon emissions. Canadian LNG could replace the more emissions-intensive coal fired electricity generating plants throughout Asia. Canada’s oil sands industry has been investing heavily in research and regulatory approvals to develop new carbon capture and storage projects that have the potential to reduce the sector’s carbon emissions intensity. Thus, an expanding Canadian oil and natural gas sector helps the world’s efforts to tackle this global challenge.

Realizing Canada’s opportunity will take collaboration between industry, government, and society. The federal government has an opportunity to reset its policies, and regulatory frameworks to support oil and natural gas investment and remove the barriers we have imposed on ourselves over time. For the oil and natural gas sector to expand and energy infrastructure to be built, Canada’s federal political leaders can create an environment that will:

Simplify regulation. The federal government’s Impact Assessment Act and West Coast tanker ban are impeding development and need to be overhauled and simplified. Regulatory processes need to be streamlined, and decisions need to withstand judicial challenges.
Commit to firm deadlines for project approvals. The federal government needs to reduce regulatory timelines so that major projects are approved within 6 months of application.
Grow production The federal government’s unlegislated cap on emissions must be eliminated to allow the sector to reach its full potential.
Attract investment. The federal carbon levy on large emitters is not globally cost competitive and should be repealed to allow provincial governments to set more suitable carbon regulations.
Incent Indigenous co-investment opportunities. The federal government needs to provide Indigenous loan guarantees at scale so industry may create infrastructure ownership opportunities to increase prosperity for communities and to ensure that Indigenous communities benefit from development.

By declaring a Canadian energy crisis and key projects in the “national interest, ”the federal government will be able to use all its available emergency powers to ensure that the dramatic regulatory restructuring required to expand the oil and natural gas sector is rapidly achieved.

As leaders of the energy sector, we are ready and willing to engage with you on the matters so that energy projects are moved forward promptly, and construction of critical infrastructure can begin in the near term for the benefit of Canada and all Canadians nationwide.

Regards,