LILLEY: Trudeau government snubs global LNG conference in Vancouver (2024)

Imagine being the federal minister in charge of the energy file and skipping a major world conference on a lower carbon that was happening in your own backyard.

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This isn’t an imaginary scenario, the minister who did this is Jonathan Wilkinson, Justin Trudeau’s minister of natural resources.

Wilkinson was a no show at LNG2023 last week despite several attempts to invite him and other senior government leaders. In place of Wilkinson, the world’s leading figure from both the business and government side of the liquified natural gas industry heard from Edmonton MP Randy Boissonnault, Trudeau’s tourism minister.

It’s not that Wilkinson would have had to go far, his constituency office is only about 30 minutes away from where the conference was held, it’s just that Wilkinson was too busy — there were scheduling conflicts.

“Unfortunately, there are a couple of domestic and international events that are in conflict with our event,” LNG2023 Executive Director Mel Ydreos explained regarding Wilkinson’s absence.

Key among those domestic events keeping Wilkinson away was his need to campaign for Elliott Weinstein, the Liberal candidate in the Calgary Heritage riding currently in the middle of a byelection. Wilkinson was out there for an event with Weinstein on July 11, the same day he announced funding for an Alberta solar project, while on July 11 he was meeting with a group called Student Energy, a youth climate change movement.

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All of these events can be important in a politician’s schedule, but when a major industry conference that you have known is coming for some time is in your home town, you should probably attend. When major industry conferences hit Toronto, ministers fly in from all over to attend, often Trudeau himself will come to town to meet the movers and shakers of key industries.

What all of this tells you is that LNG isn’t a key industry for the Trudeau government.

While Wilkinson was too busy to attend, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was able to make it, despite having spent three days in Winnipeg for the premier’s meetings. According to spies, Smith and Wilkinson were even spotted at the Calgary airport at the same time as Smith was headed to Vancouver for the conference.

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Looks like Wilkinson’s Uber, or government driver, couldn’t find the Vancouver Convention Centre, that really big building down on the waterfront.

The government began receiving invites in late 2022 according to organizers. While it’s understandable that Trudeau himself couldn’t attend, it’s not understandable that a minister from Vancouver, who is responsible for the file, could not attend.

Instead, Boissonnault flew in from Edmonton to tell the conference in a keynote address that “the development of an at-scale LNG economy is a strategic priority for Canada.”

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That kind of rings hollow when it’s the tourism minister delivering the message and the natural resources minister couldn’t be bothered coming out for the event. If this truly was a priority, Wilkinson would have been there at the least.

The Trudeau government has already shown it’s hand on the LNG file through neglect. Proposals for LNG export facilities on both coasts have been abandoned as often due to regulatory reasons as economic ones. Attempts to get pipelines built face bigger hurdles today than ever before thanks to Trudeau’s regulatory environment.

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LNG is a cleaner fuel than oil or coal and Canada exporting it could be a way to reduce global emissions. It could also be replacing Russian natural gas, which is funding Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

None of these arguments fly with Trudeau though.

He claims there is no business case and he would rather Canada reduce our meagre emissions than help get India and China off their dependence on burning coal.

So, the fact that Wilkinson didn’t show up at LNG2023 shouldn’t shock anyone, he’s just confirmed what we already suspected.

blilley@postmedia.com

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