OTTAWA - The federal government is defending its plans to push its internal trade and major projects bill through the House of Commons next week at a rapid clip. Critics claim the move will evade much-needed scrutiny of a bill that would give cabinet sweeping powers to quickly approve selected major natural resource projects, such as oil pipelines. Government House leader Steven MacKinnon has put a motion on notice that would push the bill through the House of Commons by the end of next [Read more]

CALGARY - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is working to entice a private-sector player to build a crude pipeline to coastal waters. She urged attendees at the Global Energy Show to keep up the pressure on Ottawa to help speed along such a nation-building project. Smith has been enthusiastic about reviving a plan to ship oilsands crude to Prince Rupert on the northern B.C. coast for export to Asia. But she says that's never going to happen as long as there's a tanker [Read more]

CALGARY - The secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries says there's no peak in oil demand on the horizon. Haitham al-Ghais made his remarks in a speech to the Global Energy Show in Calgary. He says primary energy demand is forecast to rise by 24 per cent between now and 2050, surpassing 120 million barrels a day. Al-Ghais says that will require US$17.4 trillion in investment over that time. He says the prediction isn't based on ideology, but on [Read more]

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union wants to lower a cap on the price of Russian oil to deprive the Kremlin of extra profits to fund its war in Ukraine as part of a new raft of sanctions aimed at forcing Moscow to the negotiating table, senior officials said on Tuesday. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc is “proposing to lower the oil price cap from $60 to $45, which is lower than the market price, and lowering the oil price cap will hit Russia’s revenues hard.” Kallas said [Read more]

CALGARY - A report says new cleanup rules for renewable energy sites are hurting the competitiveness of Alberta's industry. Business Renewables Centre-Canada analyzed the reclamation security requirements for renewables in 27 jurisdictions and found Alberta's are now the most costly. Under a code of practice for solar and wind projects published last week, the Alberta government says operators must provide an estimate for the cost of dismantling turbines and panels, removing underground [Read more]

OTTAWA - The American ambassador to Canada is closely watching as Ottawa shapes its defence budget, but says the U.S. will not dictate what the Canadian government must spend. "We're not expecting anything; that's not our job to make those expectations," Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said in an interview with The Canadian Press this past Friday, a day after NATO defence ministers endorsed new spending targets. Hoekstra also said the point of the NATO military alliance is to defend each other [Read more]

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney's government introduced legislation Friday that would grant it new powers to quickly push forward major projects the federal cabinet deems to be in the national interest. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc tabled a bill in the House of Commons that would give Ottawa the authority to draw up a list of large projects it wants to prioritize and to expedite their federal approval. Carney said it has become too hard to build new projects in Canada [Read more]