Guilbeault sidesteps Bay du Nord rumours

Canada's environment minister worked hard Wednesday to ensure any leaks about a controversial Atlantic oil project weren't coming from his office.

Questioned about media reports of his ministry's impending approval of the Bay du Nord offshore drilling project while testifying Wednesday before the Commons Natural Resources committee, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault kept his responses nebulous.

Asked by committee member and NDP MP Charlie Angus if the media reports were true, Guilbeault simply stated that no official announcement had been made.

Norwegian energy company Equinor is behind the $12 billion megaproject — located about 500 km off the shore of St. John's, N.L., northeast of the Hibernia and Terra Nova offshore drill sites on Newfoundland's Grand Banks and Jeanne d'arc Basin.

Estimates say the deepwater project could produce 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and over its lifetime would yield at least 300 million barrels.

On Wednesday, CTV reported approval of the project would be announced later that day after financial markets had closed.

In a contentious exchange, Angus expressed his surprise at the news — telling Guilbeault he didn't recall reading anything in the government's climate plans about approving new oil projects.

Guilbeault responded by admonishing Angus for not paying closer attention to government policy.

“If you'd have read the climate plan attentively, you would have seen that the plan rests on a number of data sources, including the last study from the Canadian Energy Regulator that forecasts an increase in production in Canada,” he said.

Angus kept on Guilbeault, pointing out both this week's landmark report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as well as remarks from Secretary-general António Guterres accusing world leaders of not following through on their promises to deal with the climate emergency.

“He said government leaders are 'lying,' and the response will be 'catastrophic,'" Angus said.

“Would you feel the UN (secretary) general would have been unfair in saying that government leaders who came to COP26 to make these promises are lying, and then go back and it's business at usual?”

Guilbeault disagreed, insisting his government is following IPCC guidelines by capping emissions and putting a price on pollution.

News that Bay du Nord approval was imminent was not well-received by Canadian environmental groups.

Climate advocacy group Environmental Defence described any potential approval of the project as a “slap in the face.”

“Approving Bay du Nord is another leap towards an unlivable future,” said spokeswoman Julia Levin.