CALGARY — Canada’s Energy Minister has suggested that expanding oil and gas production could align with left-wing, progressive values.When asked in an interview with Javier Blas of Bloomberg if he thought that drilling for oil could become “woke” again, Minister Tim Hodgson responded yes.“We are value-based pragmatists,” Hodgson said, emphasizing that Canada must operate in “the world the way it is, not the way we wish it was.”Hodgson framed increased drilling not as a step back from climate goals, but as a more pragmatic response to economic and geopolitical realities — even hinting that it could fit within what some would traditionally consider “woke” politics.His comments reflect a broader shift in policy under Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose government appears to be moving away from the more rigid anti-fossil fuel policies associated with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former US President Joe Biden.Bloomberg reports that under those regimes, opposition to new oil and gas development became a defining policy of left-wing governments, who pushed “leave it in the ground” policies across most of the Western world as climate change concerns gained traction..Hodgson puts LNG at heart of Canada’s energy ambition during Calgary event.However, Hodgson feels that position is increasingly detached from reality.“If you have the luxury of leaving [oil] in the ground, God bless you,” Hodgson said.“I don’t think that’s how we’re going to move forward in the world.”Hodgson argues that Canadian oil production is becoming cleaner, noting that the carbon intensity of oil sands production has fallen roughly 40% over the past two decades, which he frames as an economic and environmental case for continued development.“Tell me another country that has done a step change in the carbon intensity of an entire industry,” he said.“If that’s what you are blessed with as a resource and you are making those kinds of leaps forward from an environmental perspective, have you earned the right to produce? Because people want to buy it.”The minister added that after the 2015 Paris climate agreement, nations said that they were “going to cut [their] way to net zero.”“I think what the prime minister says now is we’re going to grow our way to net zero,” he said.The Liberal government’s net zero policies still continue to be hugely divisive, with many critics arguing they hurt economic growth and affordability.Others have also been critical of the government’s industrial carbon tax, saying that shifting costs onto producers will simply be passed back to consumers through higher prices.On Tuesday, the head of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said that the industrial carbon tax was eroding Canada’s competitiveness in the global marketplace..“We’re still talking about an industrial carbon tax when no other producing and exporting nation does that to their producers,” Lisa Baiton, CAPP CEO, told the Canadian Press during the 2026 BMO CAPP Energy Symposium in Toronto.Bringing up the current Iran conflict, Baiton said that while Canada holds some of the biggest oil and gas reserves in the world, “instead of seizing the moment and taking the mantle of that responsibility, we are focusing on things that add cost and make us less competitive.”The memorandum of understanding (MOU) on energy signed between Alberta and Ottawa in November proposed building a new crude oil pipeline to the BC coast, with one of the caveats in the agreement being an industrial carbon tax that would support the Pathways carbon capture proposal.The finer details on both those aspects are still unresolved two weeks after the proposed April 1 deadline.Jon McKenzie, Cenovus Energy Inc. CEO, doesn’t believe that a carbon tax would encourage investment despite Hodgson’s claims."What it means at the end of the day is more of the global supply will come from countries outside of Canada," McKenzie stated."It represents nothing more than an incremental cost that makes us less competitive with the rest of the world."
