Vladimir Putin’s stalled attack on Ukraine has demonstrated that, in terms of its conventional military, Russia is no longer a superpower. But it remains an energy superpower and, like OPEC in 1973, it has weaponized its oil and gas exports to try to undermine European and NATO support for Ukraine.Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the Financial Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
But where is Canada in all this? As the world’s fifth-largest natural gas producer we certainly have the capacity to help our European allies counter Russia’s most effective weapons system — energy. But the government dissembles about LNG exports to Europe, caught up in the conundrum of how to both expand natural gas production for foreign policy reasons and at the same time shrink it to satisfy domestic climate-change goals.
Canadian natural gas could help many countries get off coal, which emits almost 50 per cent more CO2 per energy unit. India generates about 70 per cent of its electricity with coal. Even Europe still relies on it for about 20 per cent of its electricity generation.
DeeganPS
Are there any other pipeline/LNG terminals beside Kitimat being proposed by any company?