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Canada is on track to become a major and reliable energy supplier to the G7 after leaders meeting in France recognized that country’s potential to provide “significant additional capacity” to global markets to reduce dependence on oil and gas from the Strait of Hormuz.
“We are committed to accelerating the diversification of energy supply routes to reduce global vulnerability to the Strait of Hormuz and increase our energy supplies,” he said a joint statement by the G7 heads of state and government in Évian-les-Bains, France, on Wednesday.
“We welcome Canada’s potential to deliver significant additional capacity to global markets in the coming years.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney also announced new critical minerals partnerships that his office said will “unlock more than $5 billion in capital investment for projects across Canada’s critical minerals value chain.”
In his final press conference, Carney said it was critical for the global economy to diversify its energy supply routes away from the Strait of Hormuz bottleneck.
“One of the points I raised in the room in our discussions on Iran and geopolitics was: We must learn the lessons of recent events,” he said.
Before the war, about 20 percent of the world’s crude oil was shipped from Persian Gulf states through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Gulf of Oman before reaching countries around the globe.
Iranian attacks on ships carrying energy through the Strait of Hormuz have effectively closed the entry point to the Persian Gulf, halting most oil shipments and driving up global energy prices.
The path to more energy
Carney said Canada is already “on track” to increase its energy production, with several large liquefied natural gas projects underway.
Combined with the increase in production from the TMX oil pipeline and the potential for construction of two more pipelines from Western Canada – one to the U.S. and one to the West Coast – Canada’s energy production potential has been recognized, Carney said.
CBC senior economics correspondent Peter Armstrong explains why – even when the Strait of Hormuz reopens – getting markets back to pre-war levels will be a mammoth task.
“It’s quite substantial and important for our European partners. It’s important for our Asian partners,” Carney said. “It was also discussed with me in several bilateral discussions.”
The prime minister said that beyond energy from western Canada, there are “other alternatives in the east” to help diversify G7 energy supplies away from the Persian Gulf.
Critical minerals
The G7 heads of state and government issued joint statements a number of other problems There they found common ground and pledged to work together on growth, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, drug trafficking, smuggling, online security, the Ebola outbreak, cancer research and other areas.
One of these statements The focus was on how the G7 countries can work together on the production of critical minerals to significantly reduce the group’s dependence “on a single supplier outside the G7” by the end of the year.
Building on the Critical Minerals Production Alliance formed with Canada hosting the G7 summit in 2025, leaders said Wednesday they would work together to “develop the necessary processing and industrial capacity to diversify our critical minerals value chains.”
A separate statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said Canada “welcomes 13 new partnerships and initiatives.” with more than eight countries“at the summit.
This is the result of 26 major mineral partnerships with nine countries announced during a G7 energy and environment summit Meeting in Toronto in October.
These new partners, the PMO said, will work within the alliance to “reduce market concentration and create a reliable buyer club that can attract investment and accelerate production for projects.”
These new contracts include an agreement with RCT Solutions, a German company that will work with Canadian company Sio Silica and others on a high-purity silica project and solar production center in Manitoba.
Other countries that reached key mineral deals with Canada at the summit in France include: Japan, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and Portugal.
“At the G7 Leaders Summit in Évian, we secured new partnerships to build energy projects in Canada, new agreements to make it easier for our companies to sell abroad, and new contracts to equip our Canadian Armed Forces with the hardware they need,” Carney said.
Canada is not ready, says Conservative MP
Ellis Ross, MP for B.C.’s Skeena-Bulkley Valley region, which includes parts of the province’s Pacific coast where numerous LNG facilities are located, said Canada’s approval process for new energy projects is complicated and will frustrate the Liberal government’s attempts to significantly increase oil and gas production.
“They can’t do that,” he said. “They can’t even imagine what their fast tracking process will look like.”
Ross says important questions remain unanswered when it comes to approving new projects, including how consultations with Indigenous communities will be conducted and who will be responsible for issuing permits.
“What they’re saying on the international stage is different than what they’re dealing with here in Canada,” Ross said.
