OTTAWA — Once an international climate change crusader, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is now pinning his greenhouse gas reduction ambitions on greening Canada’s oil and gas sector.
Carney’s first federal budget since winning power in April, tabled Tuesday, does away with Trudeau-era anti-“greenwashing” provisions that angered the fossil fuel sector and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Carney’s government is reviving a tax deduction for Canada’s LNG sector, touting the fossil fuel as “cleaner” than its international competitors. It offers incentives to companies trying to develop carbon capture and storage technology. And it opens the door to scrapping a proposed greenhouse gas emissions cap that Smith and industry players say would cripple the economy.
“Lowering our emissions is critical to protecting the competitiveness of Canada’s oil and gas and steel sectors,” the Liberal government said.
