OTTAWA – The country’s largest oil-and-gas lobby group is urging all political parties in the run-up to the federal election to support major pipeline and LNG projects and to create a regulatory regime that would allow these projects to be completed faster.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers released its federal energy “platform” today, outlining the issues facing the oil-and-gas industry and ways the federal government can create better conditions for growth in the sector.
CEO Tim McMillan says Canada has lost its competitive edge as a result of regulatory and policy changes that have scared investors away.
He says it should be a priority for government to ensure major pipeline projects like Trans Mountain are completed to allow oil producers to sell to global markets, where energy demand is growing.
The group also joined Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors in calling for the House of Commons to adopt the nearly 200 amendments the Senate has made to the Liberals’ new environmental-assessment legislation.
They say without the Senate’s proposed changes, Bill C-69 would make it too difficult to get energy projects built in Canada.