Canada has for years forked over billions of dollars in subsidies to oil and gas companies — an approach that critics say flies in the face of the country’s climate goals, and impinges on efforts to turn toward renewable energy sources.
Now, the federal government is preparing to release a new policy that will put an end to “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies,” a commitment Canada made more than a decade ago.
A spokesperson for Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the new policy will be released in July.
But the strength of that commitment, environmental groups say, will hinge on how exactly the terms “inefficient” and “subsidy” are defined.
Julia Levin, associate director of national climate for the advocacy group Environmental Defence, said Canada has an opportunity to become a global leader in reducing fossil fuel subsidies if it’s done right.
“If it’s a strong assessment framework, it sets a great precedent. It kind of cements a bit of climate leadership for Canada,” she said in an interview.
“If it’s weak, it sets an incredibly dangerous precedent.”
Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault has said he will eliminate inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by the end of 2023. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)
Where is Canada at with fossil fuel subsidies?
Canada has routinely ranked near or at the top of the developed world when it comes to subsidies for oil and gas, according to environmental groups.
G20 countries, including Canada, committed to eliminating such subsidies in 2009, but did not give a firm timeline of when it would happen or what that commitment would include.
The Liberals later committed to a 2025 target and, in the last election campaign, moved that up to 2023.
The long-anticipated policy comes as the oil and gas industry racks up record profits.
The parliamentary committee on environment released a report last week laying out recommendations for the phase out of subsidies and public financing.
The report included 21 recommendations, the first of which was for the government to “continue taking steps to eliminate subsidies and applicable public financing” by the end of the year, while at the same time giving “careful attention to and mitigation of any potential social and economic impacts.”
Another recommendation was to ensure that any existing subsidy “facilitates the transition toward a low-carbon future” and is consistent with the country’s climate goals.
While non-binding, the federal government must table a response to the report — and advocates are hopeful it will put additional pressure on them to act. The NDP also issued a statement last week calling on Guilbeault to eliminate subsidies.
“Canadians are increasingly concerned about the devastating impacts of wildfires, flooding and extreme weather events on their communities, their homes and their livelihoods. They want bold action to tackle the climate crisis,” said Laurel Collins, the party’s environment and climate change critic.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada said the details of the policy will be provided at the time of the announcement and noted that it “has already made progress on phasing out tax measures that are inefficient subsidies.”
The five largest companies in Canada’s oilsands made about $35 billion in profits in 2022. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)
What exactly is a fossil fuel subsidy?
There’s no agreed upon definition in Canada of what a fossil fuel subsidy includes — which is why determining how much the government doles out remains a source of heated debate.
Environmental Defence recently calculated that the federal government provided more than $20 billion to oil and gas companies in 2022.
The list includes:
$78 million from the Strategic Innovation Fund to help the oil and gas sector grow and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
$20 million from the Emissions Reduction Fund to help oil and gas companies reduce their methane emissions.
Tax breaks for developing mines and exploration expenses abroad.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), on the other hand, has maintained that the oil and gas industry is not subsidized at all.
In a brief submitted last year to the parliamentary committee, CAPP argued that tax breaks it gets are part of the tax system, “therefore not subsidies.”
Last month, more than 100 environment and civil society groups wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for a “robust” definition of the term subsidy.
The signatories, which include Environmental Defence, want the government to follow the lead of the World Trade Organization, which says a subsidy is, simply put, a “financial contribution” that “confers a benefit.” Under that definition, a subsidy would include everything from direct transfers to foregone revenue to loan guarantees.
When is a subsidy efficient?
There is also no agreed definition for what constitutes an “efficient” or “inefficient” subsidy.
The G20 statement from 2009 did say that inefficient fossil fuel subsidies “encourage wasteful consumption, reduce our energy security, impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with the threat of climate change.”
Levin and other advocates say subsidies should only be considered “efficient” — and therefore an acceptable form of government funding — if they align with Canada’s Paris agreement goals.
That means subsidies shouldn’t support new or updated fossil fuel infrastructure, or delay the transition to renewables, according to signatories of the letter to Trudeau last month.
The parliamentary report released last week doesn’t give a clear recommendation on how to define the term.
But it calls on the government to adopt a “broad, internationally recognized definition of a fossil fuel subsidy” and a “definition of ‘inefficient,’ in the context of fossil fuel subsidies.”
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Public financing included?
In its memo to the parliamentary committee, CAPP argued that eliminating all public financing for oil and gas would “work against government commitments to meet their targets and obligations under the Paris Agreement given that government funding helps improve industry emissions performance.”
But Bronwen Tucker, who tracks public financing of oil and gas companies at the advocacy group Oil Change International, is hopeful the new policy will include all forms of public financing (such as government loans or loan guarantees) in order to ensure fossil fuel projects don’t get an advantage over renewable sources of energy.
Canada put an end to international public financing of oil and gas companies last year, something Tucker said was a good first step in cutting back on government support of the industry.
She said tax breaks and more direct support for oil and gas have also been scaled back, but that support shows up in other ways, such as clean up for orphaned wells and carbon capture storage.
“For the public, it can sound actually exciting or often is branded as a climate solution, where what we see in practice is that money goes to a fossil fuel company that frees up money elsewhere in their budget and in their expenses,” she said.
“It’s still a handout and it’s just letting them off for the costs of cleanup that they should be able to cover themselves.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
