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The oil and gas industry is still in the early stages of understanding the long-term effects of the Supreme Court decision that found the federal government’s Impact Assessment Act (IAA) unconstitutional, the president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said Wednesday.
“It was a very clear call for co-operation between federal and provincial governments. But we’re still digesting it, we’re still monitoring to see how the federal and provincial governments are going to react to the decision,” said Lisa Baiton, president and CEO of CAPP.
“We’re only three business days into it.”
Baiton made the comments Wednesday following a panel discussion in downtown Calgary with Rebecca Schulz, the province’s minister of environment and protected areas.
Baiton was named president of CAPP in April 2022, taking over from Tim McMillan. CAPP member companies represent more than 90 per cent of Canada’s upstream oil and gas production.
The Supreme Court ruled last Friday that the IAA, which would allow the government to review energy, mining and industrial projects to consider potential environmental and social impacts, was an unconstitutional overreach into provincial jurisdiction.
CAPP president expresses optimism, some frustrations
As the decision’s effects start to emerge, Baiton said she hopes it’s “a reset for policy impacting our industry.”
CAPP was an intervener in the case.
Still, Baiton said she’s optimistic the decision will “provide certainty needed for project filings to go in, or project filings to be refiled.”
The CAPP president also laid out frustrations with Canada’s regulatory system, particularly compared with the U.S. government’s Inflation Reduction Act, which in 2022 invested $369 billion in energy security and climate change programs over the next 10 years. Baiton called the act a “market, incentive-based approach.”
“Here in Canada, we’ve taken a very complex approach, some may even call it punitive. I think there’s a stark philosophical difference here in Canada to how we can address equally important policy directives using (greenhouse gas) emissions, ensuring that we have energy security and national security,” she said during the panel discussion.
“Our vision shouldn’t be regulating — in particular our sector — to the point of oblivion.”
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Schulz and Baiton both said they want oil production to stay in Alberta as they await federal legislation that could affect production levels in the province.
“If there is going to be an increased demand for oil and gas, which there is every day, I want those barrels coming from a place like Alberta where we have high environmental standards,” Schulz said during the panel.
Baiton said CAPP is waiting for federal direction on the forthcoming cap on oil and gas emissions, saying the federal government’s messaging “doesn’t always align” with the association.
“We would be concerned that the cap would be used as a production cap as opposed to what its stated objective is, which is to reduce GHG emissions.”
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