CALGARY — On Thursday, the Greek tanker Maran Gas Hector unloaded at the Port of Saint John in New Brunswick, marking the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) delivery from Australia to Eastern Canada since at least 2008, driven by slumping Asian demand.The cargo is being processed at the Repsol-owned Canaport LNG terminal, Canada’s only major LNG receiving and regasification facility, marking the end of a roughly 25,750-kilometre voyage..The terminal feeds natural gas into pipelines serving Atlantic Canada and the US Northeast.News of the LNG shipment caused mass outrage online and from opposition party politicians, who argue it underscores regulatory and infrastructure failures that have prevented Western Canadian gas from reaching the eastern portion of the country.This hit especially hard considering Canada posted record natural gas production levels earlier this month..Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill) slammed the import on X, calling it “strategic negligence,” adding that Canada is “sitting on one of the world’s largest natural gas reserves, yet we’re importing from Australia.”.James E. Thorne, chief market strategist at Wellington-Altus, described Canada’s energy policy as bordering on “insanity,” adding that New Brunswick is importing LNG while declining to develop its own “substantial shale gas reserves.”“The province desperately needs investment and jobs and already sits near the bottom of North America in standard of living rankings,” Thorne said.Marty Belanger, better known online as @Martyupnorth, said on his Western Standard show Thursday that it was frustrating to see politicians from Ottawa travelling to countries such as Australia and India to “try to sell Canadian LNG.”“I can't help but be frustrated, especially at the hypocrisy of Carney and others, who lately have been talking about how we have to diversify the economy and not be dependent on the Americans,” Belanger said.“They go as far as saying that we are going to build Canadian infrastructure, and we're going to become our own best customers, right? Well, if we were going to be our own best customers, you would think that we would buy oil from Alberta instead of from Nigeria and Qatar, and you would think that New Brunswick and Nova Scotia would buy natural gas from Alberta.”.Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also lamented the shipment, saying, “If only there were a faster way to get LNG to Eastern Canada...”On the flip side of the argument, Liberal MP Corey Hogan (Calgary Confederation) pushed back on the criticism, stating that the Saint John facility was designed as an import terminal and also supplies gas to the US Northeast — something he said Poilievre should know..Hogan argued that LNG operates within a global commodity market where shipping economics can make overseas cargoes competitive.“As soon as we're talking about ports, we're talking about a global market and global market economics,” Hogan said, adding that imports, exports, and commodity swaps are common features of a free market.“If Pierre is suggesting we should only buy Canadian on non-market terms, what he's accidentally describing is essentially reintroducing the National Energy Program,” he stated.The Western Standard has reached out to New Brunswick Minister of Energy Rene Legacy's office for comment.
