PM visits Texas to talk up sustainable growth
HOUSTON Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in the heart of the U.S. oilpatch to make the case for investing in Canadian natural resources — while protecting the environment — at an influential global gathering of politicians and oil and gas executives.
“We need to build stronger economies and economic opportunities for citizens while at the same time protecting the environment and thinking about the jobs of the next generations from now as well,” Trudeau said Thursday in Houston as he sat down with business leaders for a roundtable on the future of energy.
The two-day trip is the first time a Canadian prime minister has attended the annual CERAWeek conference, which brings more than 3,000 people — including legislators, energy executives, innovators and experts — from around the world.
Trudeau was to talk up the connection between resource development and taking care of the environment during Thursday night’s keynote speech. The conference is also giving him an award for his stance in favour of sustainable development.
A question-and-answer session with Daniel Yergin, the vice-chairman of IHS Markit, the London-based research firm that organizes the conference, was to follow the speech.
The visit comes at a time when the energy industry, buoyed by a recent resurgence in the price of oil, and governments around the world are grappling with a dramatic shift in American politics.
Barack Obama, the former U.S. president, had emphasized the global fight against climate change as he neared the end of his time in the White House. That position aligned smoothly with Trudeau’s commitment to transition to a low-carbon economy.
Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, has vowed to boost fossil fuel production through easing regulations and building more pipelines, including the Keystone XL pipeline project that TransCanada proposed nearly a decade ago.
That pipeline, which the Liberal government supports, could bring Canadian jobs and help for the struggling Alberta economy.