U.S.-Canada markets on ‘same page’ for energy
• Natural resources minister Jim Carr reiterated Thursday t he interdependence of U. S. and Canadian energy markets, amid fresh concerns that president Donald Trump is mulling a massive shakeup of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Speculation has been widespread over which Canadian industries, from softwood lumber to oil and gas, might be included in Trump’s vision for renegotiated terms under NAFTA.
“I can’t speculate on what could be on the table,” Carr said in an interview. “I just know that the energy market is in the interest of all three countries.”
Carr has himself spoken with U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry on three separate occasions to discuss the energy relationship between the two countries.
“I came away from those conversations with an awful lot of confidence that Secretary Perry and I were on the same page,” he said.
Carr has focused much of his NAFTA negotiation efforts on Texas and Louisiana, where refineries are heavily dependent on heavy oil feedstocks from Canada. Some experts in Calgary have suggested oil and gas imports might be exempt from a border- adjustment tax, which has also been floated by some Republican congressmen. In 2016, 41 per cent of U. S. crude oil imports came from Canada.
Carr also said the Liberal government will make clear its support of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion when it meets with the newly elected government of B.C., Carr told The Canadian Press.
But Carr said it first must be established who won the election on Monday. The results appear to hand Liberal Leader Christy Clark a minority government, but this could change with counts of absentee ballots and recounts.
A total of 43 members of Clark’s party were elected, one seat short of a majority.
The NDP won 41 seats and the Green party three. Both have said they oppose Trans Mountain and, if they act together, could potentially try to derail it.
At an event in Calgary, Carr says the pipeline received conditional federal approval after “very rigorous review” and he continues to believe it is in the national interest as a job creator and means to export Alberta crude to Asian markets.
He wouldn’t say whether he thought the pipeline’s prospects of being built were put at risk by the B.C. election results.