How Canada is placing its best foot forward in reliable and responsible energy
At the Canadian Energy Market Strategy session, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith outlined Canada’s pragmatic path to energy reliability, growth, and sustainability—emphasising its role as a dependable exporter committed to innovation, diversification, and lower emissions.
“We wanted to double our oil and gas production,” Smith declared, citing the continuing global need for hydrocarbons. “I don’t think the world—at that time, we were talking about energy transition. I think now the term that I’ve heard is ‘energy addition’, which I like a lot more.”
Exports are central to this vision. Smith highlighted longstanding ties to U.S. markets, characterizing Canadian energy as a competitive asset in the context of American ambitions for “global energy dominance.” She explained, “We would love to continue selling to the United States.
One of the things we offer is that the Americans are now interested in global energy dominance, and part of how they can ensure more to export—without impacting local prices—is to get products from Canada to backfill.”
However, Smith pointed to broader international ambitions: “Part of our production goes all the way down to the Gulf Coast, and then can be made available to go to European markets. I’ve actually met someone from a European country who said, ‘Oh yeah, we buy Canadian gas. We sell it for less than $1 an MCF, and they’re buying it for $15. The traders are making a lot of money in the meantime.’”
Major pipeline projects, including the completion of the Coastal GasLink, are opening new pathways for Canadian LNG exports. “LNG Canada has just started transporting products. That’s going to be a brand new growth field for us for LNG export, and Alberta can also tap into that.”
She elaborated on the Trans Mountain Pipeline, intended to supply American refineries but now sending over half its volumes to Asian markets. “More than half is going to Asian markets, including China and Korea. As they use it, they want more. We’re looking to see if we can build another pipeline.”
Smith addressed European needs post-Ukraine, observing, “We’ve seen in the last few years Europe is looking for reliable partners for a stable supply of energy. It could well be that our sister provinces are able to provide that.”
The conversation also focused on the coal-to-gas transition: “In Alberta, because gas was so low, it was a good value proposition to switch away from coal. We finished that transition at the end of 2024, and our emissions went down 53% by switching from coal. If the world could transition away from higher emission fuels and embrace more natural gas, it would have an enormous impact on local emissions,” she said.
Addressing questions about Asia’s hesitancy, Smith suggested that, “the conversation has changed… The turmoil of the last few years resulted in a lot more pragmatism. If you want to address global energy poverty, you have to look at how many people don’t have electricity.”
She referenced that, globally, “700 million people don’t have electricity, 2.6 billion don’t have access to the internet, and 3.9 billion don’t have digital skills. We can’t sacrifice raising living standards by racing to achieve a target that may not be practical in the short-term.”
On the subject of emissions, Smith described Alberta’s Pathways Alliance: “They proposed a vision to get to carbon neutrality by 2050, and part of it is carbon capture, utilization and storage.” She also cited the expansion of nuclear energy and new investments in hydrogen and lithium as vital parts of a diversified, lower-emissions strategy.
Smith underscored the crucial need for regulatory certainty and time horizons for industry investment. “You kind of need a 20-year time horizon to get your money back. If we can make sure there’s certainty that there isn’t going to be aggressive new technologies come in that strand assets, that’s the way you get investment,” she asserted.
Alberta’s energy policies also include a carbon price, in place since 2007. “Our carbon price right now is $95—there’s some debate about whether it’s too high or too low. We feel it’s just right, enough incentive for companies that want to benefit from carbon capture,” Smith noted, referring to $2 billion in revenues dedicated to emissions-reducing technologies and the Emissions Reduction Alberta fund, which has seeded a variety of projects from hydrogen to modular nuclear reactors.
In conclusion, Smith envisioned Alberta and Canada as leading providers of reliable, responsible energy to the world, leveraging both its resources and a culture of technological innovation. “If we can find other uses for [oil byproducts], as well as for petrochemicals, there’s going to be less and less combustion… And if right now CO2 can be reconstituted into fuel or animal feed, those are things we’re already seeing at the experimental stage. That’s the future state we’re going to get to.”
