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LNG exports from North America are essential to maintaining global energy security and affordability, because the electricity sectors in many countries depend on natural gas to replace coal-fired generation and back up intermittent renewables. Nowhere is this truer than in the Indo-Pacific region, where population and economic growth are driving the demand for energy.
The Canadian natural gas sector has many stakeholders. But what’s good for producers doesn’t automatically equate to what’s good for all stakeholders. Certainly, Canadian producers and their shareholders benefit the most by shipping their gas south to the U.S. The U.S. in turn benefits from the political and economic advantages that LNG export capacity confers on them.
However, a broader range of Canadian stakeholders benefit from increased LNG exports from our ports, including pipeline companies, LNG exporters, local communities, Indigenous groups and all the ancillary businesses that support export infrastructure.
Canada will also benefit from the diplomatic and economic leverage that LNG exports confer on us, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. Canada would become more attractive to the region as a strategic partner that can supply those countries with energy and economic security.