A major projects expert says the federal budget is more of a tone shift on the oil and gas sector than firm changes in policy.
Zach Parston, KPMG in Canada’s leader in national infrastructure, capital projects, and sustainability, says the budget acknowledges oil and gas as a strategic industry that has a longer-term horizon than the government may have acknowledged in the past.
He says the budget makes clear that the federal government is willing to support the industry and invest in it, including through measures like widening the mandate of the Canada Infrastructure Bank to allow funding of pipelines and other energy needs.
It also shows the government is willing to abandon the sector’s emissions cap if certain conditions are met, but Parston says there are still many details about those conditions that remain unclear.
The budget sets out a plan to strengthen industrial carbon pricing, finalize methane regulations and extended tax credits on carbon capture that it says could make the emissions cap no longer required.
Chris Severson-Baker, executive director of the Pembina Institute, said in a statement that measures to push the industry to reduce emissions help set it up to compete in a world demanding provably low-carbon energy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2025.