Natural Resources Committee on Jan. 29th, 2024

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

—with how you liquify LNG before you actually ship it. Your case of half relates to Canada versus Japan, but only in the circumstance where you're doing things to fight climate change, which your party opposes.

At the end of the day, natural gas can be part of a transition. That is why LNG Canada phase two is being built. That is why Woodfibre LNG is being built. Certainly companies are free to bring forward, based on their assessment of the future market, projects to go through the assessment process.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Thank you.

It's great to hear you acknowledge that natural gas can be part of the solution. If it's part of the solution, and now you've come to this new reasoning and new thought process, why did you not approve all of those LNG plants? There are just two. There were over 15 on the books when you came to power. Given what you're saying now—you know it now—why did it take so long to come to that knowledge?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

First of all, there are three. Second of all, the government didn't turn down any of those projects, if you go back and look at that.

At the end of the day, the question for companies that are proposing LNG facilities going forward is what the market is going to look like going forward. What the International Energy Agency says is that demand globally for oil and for gas will peak in this decade. You have to take that into account to see whether you're going to have stranded assets and whether you're going to be able to pay back the capital. That's up to companies to decide.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

You mentioned the cost to liquify natural gas. What's the cost to liquify hydrogen? Is there any cost to that?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

It's not the cost to liquify; it's the nature of how you liquify. You can either use natural gas—

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

So we can liquify it with nature.

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

—to liquify or use electricity to liquify, but if you use natural gas, the emissions are much higher, and therefore you're not actually gaining a lot when you're displacing coal.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

How much more time is left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

It's less than 30 seconds.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

My God. Thank you very much. That's wonderful.

Right out of the gate, Minister, you talked about your consultations with stakeholders. When did you consult with the FFAW, which is the largest fishing industry stakeholder group in Canada? On what date was it?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

I will ask my officials for the date, but two collective organizations, one of which the FFAW is part of, were part of the conversation.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

I can tell you. You did not consult with them, because I asked them if you did. You consulted with CAPP afterwards.

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

I'm happy to take that away and look at what the dates were, but I'm pretty sure—

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Yes, you can take that way.

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

—the department did speak to them.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

What about with the United Fisheries Conservation Alliance?

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Mr. Small, thank you. The time is up.

Thank you, Minister Wilkinson, for your response.

We'll now go to Mr. Sorbara.

Mr. Sorbara, go ahead. The floor—

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Yes.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

I thought the meeting was till 5:30 p.m.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you, Mr. Angus.

We did start a few minutes late. We'll just finish this round and we'll—

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Is that the end of the round?

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Mr. Sorbara would be the end of the round.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Okay. I would normally say that we need unanimous consent, but since I like Mr. Sorbara on most days, I will not cause any more trouble.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

I'm sorry, colleagues, but we did start a few minutes late.

Go ahead, Mr. Sorbara.