Politics
Canada wants to sell LNG to Germany. Critics say it’s a race against time – National TenX News
Canada has entered renewed discussions with Germany on supplying liquefied natural gas, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday — a prospect critics say should have become reality years ago.
Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, Carney said his government will make announcements “in the next two weeks” on new port infrastructure funding, which could mark the first major “national interest” projects approved under legislation passed in the spring.
Carney specifically identified the Contrecoeur expansion of the Port of Montreal, which is set to increase container capacity by as much as 40 per cent, and revitalizing the Churchill port in northern Manitoba.
The latter project “would open up enormous LNG (export potential), plus other opportunities” for shipping critical minerals and metals to Europe, Carney said, creating “a new port, effectively.”
Speaking to reporters in Berlin at a separate event, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said the goal being sold by Canadian proponents to German buyers “is being able to ship in as little as five years.”
Adam Pankratz, a faculty lecturer at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, said the new timeline is “theoretically feasible,” but he’s not holding his breath.
“I would view everything the government says with the context of the last (few) years of not being able to get anything done,” he said in an interview.
“Until we see that the situation has definitively changed, I don’t believe there’s any reason to take the government at their word on anything on this file, even if I am hopeful that that is the change that is underfoot.”
Has the ‘business case’ changed?
In 2022, months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led Germany and other European nations to look for alternatives to Russian oil, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau publicly questioned the “business case” for Canada becoming an LNG supplier across the Atlantic.
“There are a number of potential projects … that are on the books for which there has never been a strong business case because of the distance from the gas fields,” Trudeau told reporters at the time alongside then-German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“We are looking right now, and companies are looking, at whether the new context makes it a worthwhile business case to make those investments.”
Exactly three years later, Hodgson said the business case has indeed changed.
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“I think there was a view prior to a few years ago that the need for natural gas would be relatively minor and relatively short-term,” he said.
“I think what we all realize post-Ukraine, post what’s happening with AI, that natural gas is going to be a transition fuel that’s in greater demand in Germany and for a longer period of time. Canada has the opportunity to be a great partner to Germany in that regard.”
Another change, Hodgson said, is the launch of LNG Canada’s first shipments of liquefied gas to Asia in June from its just-opened export facility in Kitimat, B.C.
The first phase of the project is expected to export 14 million tonnes of gas per year. A second phase under consideration would double that output.
Five other export facilities are in various stages of construction or regulatory approval — all of them in British Columbia, and all of them aimed at supplying LNG to Asia. The projects are expected to begin operating between 2027 and 2030.
Efforts to build export capacity on the East Coast have been more difficult. A planned expansion of the Saint John LNG facility in New Brunswick that would allow for export died in 2023 when the Spanish company behind the proposal balked at rising costs.
The Quebec government rejected a proposal for an LNG facility in Quebec’s Saguenay region in 2021, amid widespread opposition to the project.
Yet in recent months, Premier François Legault has repeatedly said Quebecers are more open to fossil-fuel projects in the province due to the ongoing trade war with the United States.
In July, Legault confirmed that members of his team have met with representatives of Marinvest Energy Canada, a new subsidiary of a Norwegian energy company that says it wants to build an LNG export facility in Quebec.
The premier said at the time that the project, which would be built along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in the province’s Côte-Nord region, was “very preliminary.”
Pankratz notes that, in addition to building port and storage capacity, a new pipeline from Western Canada would also be necessary for LNG export. That too, he says, is possible but doubtful given the “enormous hurdles” involved.
“Aside from just the physical building-out of the pipeline, you have to find a company who wants to build it,” he said.
“You have to get First Nations on board, you have to get communities on board. And you would essentially have to have no challenge or resistance, or be willing to expend an enormous amount of political capital to just ram it through. And I view that as very unlikely.”
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told reporters on Tuesday that his government has been making the case to Carney and federal cabinet ministers for the Port of Churchill as a “national interest” project.
He said the port offers a competitive advantage, given its location both in the North and closer to Western Canada, and was encouraged to hear Carney echoing those points in Germany.
Carney has said any project built under the federal major projects law, which aims to fast-track approvals and reviews to within two years, would require buy-ins from First Nations and local governments, as well as meeting environmental criteria.
Conservatives have called on the Liberal government to repeal existing energy project regulatory laws to further fast-track approvals and get projects built, arguing builders need certainty to invest in Canada.
Hodgson on Tuesday said he met with “an awful lot of German companies that were pretty interested in working with us.”
Canada is now also racing against the United States, which became the largest global exporter of LNG in the seven years it took to build the first phase of LNG Canada.
Three new facilities anticipated to start operations by the end of next year could increase the country’s LNG export capacity by 50 per cent, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s new trade deal with the European Union includes a commitment to purchase US$750 billion in American oil and gas in the next four years, a pledge analysts have said is unfeasible.
The EU had already had a deal in place since 2022 to buy American LNG after Russia invaded Ukraine.
That doesn’t mean Canada isn’t facing pressure, however, as allies continue to sign energy deals with each other in a bid to counter Russia, as well as China and other adversarial nations.
“We’re desperate,” Pankratz said. “The economic case (for selling LNG to Europe) is the same (as it was three years ago), but the economic need is greater.”
The Expert Group on Canada-U.S. Relations at Carleton University, in a white paper on the future of Canada’s energy sector released in July, said LNG infrastructure should be among the major projects approved within the next six months, a time frame the group said was “critical” to ensure the new law is a success.
It said LNG alone could increase Canada’s GDP by at least $11 billion per year.
“If Canada doesn’t get its act together … it’s the biggest economic policy failure in decades,” Pankratz said. “It’s just unbelievable if we miss this opportunity.”
— with files from The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Doha on Saturday as part of a push to attract foreign investment and deepen Canada’s economic partnerships beyond its traditional allies.
Carney’s visit comes on the heels of his visit to China and follows the recent presentation of a new federal investment budget aimed at positioning Canada as a stable, attractive destination for global capital.
In a news conference on Saturday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canada is working to broaden its economic relationships as global trade patterns shift.
Qatar is viewed by Ottawa as a strategic partner, with officials pointing to the country’s significant investment capacity and growing influence on the global stage.
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“We need to reduce our dependence and increase our self-reliance to find a strategic path forward,” Champagne said.
“Engaging with the Middle East and China is necessary for Canada, just like our European partners have done,” Champagne added. “We buy more from the U.S.A. than anywhere else, but the trading climate right now is different.”
The conference highlighted Canada’s industrial capacity and trade advantages as key selling points for potential investors.
Champagne also said international engagement is critical as Canada works to raise its profile among global investors.
“We are one of the G7s with very big industries. We build cars, planes, ships, we have an abundance of energy, and we are the only one with free trade with all G7,” Champagne said. “With the way the world is changing, you better diversify, supply chain is changing and we need to adapt.”
Prime Minister Carney is expected to meet with senior Qatari officials, including Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as well as representatives of the Qatar Investment Authority.
His office says the talks will focus on expanding trade access and forging partnerships in artificial intelligence, infrastructure, energy and defence.
The visit comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the region, though officials say the schedule remains unchanged.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
The possibility of a forceful U.S. takeover of Greenland is raising many unprecedented questions — including how Canada, the European Union and NATO could respond or even retaliate against an ostensible ally.
A high-level meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and U.S. officials this week did not resolve the “fundamental disagreement” over the territory’s sovereignty but did set the stage for more talks. The White House made clear Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire to control Greenland has not changed after the meeting.
“He wants the United States to acquire Greenland. He thinks it’s in our best national security to do that,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Denmark and European allies are sending more troops to the territory in a show of force and to display a commitment to Arctic security.
Experts say there are other, non-military measures available in the event of a U.S. annexation or invasion of Greenland, or which could at least be threatened to try and get Trump to back down.
Whether those economic measures are actually used is another matter, those experts say.
“I think it remains highly unlikely that we’ll get to that point where we have to seriously discuss consequences for a U.S. move on Greenland,” said Otto Svendsen, an associate fellow with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“So it remains contingency planning for a highly unlikely event. That being said … Denmark would certainly do everything in its power to rally a very robust European response.”
Here’s what that could entail.
EU trade, tech disruptions?
Experts agree the biggest pressure points that can be used in the U.S. surround trade and technology.
The European Parliament’s trade committee is currently debating whether to postpone implementing the trade deal signed between Trump and the EU last summer to protest the threats against Greenland, Reuters reported Wednesday.
Many lawmakers have complained that the deal is lopsided, with the EU required to cut most import duties while the U.S. sticks to a broad 15 per cent tariff for European goods.
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An even bolder move would be triggering the EU’s anti-coercion instrument — known as the “trade bazooka” — that would allow the bloc to hit non-member nations with tariffs, trade restrictions, foreign investment bans, and other penalties if that country is found to be using coercive economic measures.
Although the regulation defines coercion as “measures affecting trade and investment,” Svendsen said it could feasibly be used in a diplomatic or territorial dispute as well.
“EU lawyers have proven themselves to be very creative in recent years,” he said.
However, David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said in an email that economic measures against the U.S. are unlikely “given the massive asymmetry in the defence and economic relationship between the U.S.” and other western nations.
“Any kind of sanction against the U.S. doesn’t make sense for the same reason they can impose tariffs on others: they have the power,” Perry added.
Target U.S. tech companies?
The likeliest — and potentially least harmful — scenario for retaliation in the event of an attack on Greenland, Svendsen said, would be fines or bans against U.S. tech companies like Google, Meta and X operating in Europe.
That’s because the Trump administration has taken particular focus on preventing what they call “attacks” on American companies by foreign governments seeking to regulate their online content or tax their revenues, which has led to calls on Canada, Britain and the EU to repeal laws like digital services taxes.
“I think that would be a really smart and targeted way to get to economic interests very close to the president, while minimizing the direct impact on the on the European economy,” Svendsen said, calling such a move “low-hanging fruit.”
He also compared a future U.S. tech platform ban to how Europe moved to wean itself off Russian gas after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“If you told anyone back then that Europe would basically rid itself of its dependence on Russian gas basically within a two-year period … that would have been considered completely impossible,” he said.
“Weaning the European economy off of U.S. tech would certainly be painful in the short term, but they’ve proven that they can get off those dependencies quickly if there is political will behind it in the past.”
A U.S. hostile takeover of Greenland would mean the “end” of the NATO alliance, experts and European leaders have said.
Trump himself has acknowledged it could be a “choice” between preserving the alliance or acquiring Greenland.
There is no provision within the NATO founding treaty that addresses the possibility of a NATO member taking territory from another, and how the alliance should respond to such an act.
A NATO spokesperson told Global News it wouldn’t “speculate on hypothetical scenarios” when asked how it could potentially act.
“None of this would be actionable in a NATO sense,” Perry said. “It’s an alliance that’s organized to bind the U.S. to European security, and revolves around the U.S. So there’s no scenario of NATO doing that to the U.S.”
Denmark and other European nations could move to reduce or close U.S. military bases in their countries as a possible response, experts say.
Balkan Devlen, a a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and director of its Transatlantic Program, said in an interview that a U.S. annexation of Greenland would force Canada to focus entirely on boosting its defences in the Arctic.
That may include trying to decouple from NORAD, the joint northern defence network with the U.S., in favour of a purely domestic Arctic command, he said — although that process would take years and require Canada to increase defence spending even further.
“Never mind five per cent (of GDP) — we will probably need to go like seven, eight, nine per cent on defence spending to be able to do anything of that sort,” he said. “It’s not even clear that we’ll be able to have enough people to do that.”
Devlen added that any retaliatory action, whether military or financial, needs to be targeted and proportionate to what the U.S. does.
“The problem with nuclear options is that once you use it, it’s gone,” he said. “And if it doesn’t do the damage or make the change of behaviour on the other party, you’ve basically lost a lot of leverage and you might actually sustain a lot more loss yourself.”
A trip to the world’s most-visited museum is about to cost Canadians significantly more.
France has hiked ticket prices at the Louvre by 45 per cent for visitors from outside the European Union, a move that is fuelling debate over so-called dual pricing and the growing backlash against overtourism.
Starting this week, adult visitors from non-EU countries, including Canada, must pay €32 to enter the Paris landmark, up from €22. That’s an increase from about $35 to $52 Canadian.
Visitors from EU countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, will continue to pay the lower rate.
The price hike comes as the Louvre grapples with repeated labour strikes, a high-profile daylight jewel heist last October that prompted a costly security overhaul, and years of chronic overcrowding. The museum attracts roughly nine million visitors annually.
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Some Canadian tourists told Global News they feel unfairly targeted.
“We didn’t cause the robberies or some of the other issues that happened and we are paying the consequences,” said Allison Moore, visiting Paris from Newfoundland with her daughter. “[In] Canada we don’t discriminate over pricing like that.”
Others argue tourists already shoulder higher costs simply by travelling long distances.
“In general for tourists, I think things should be a little cheaper than for local people, because we have to travel to come all the way here,” said Darla Daniela Quiroz, another Canadian visitor. “It should be equal pricing, or a little bit cheaper.”
Even some Europeans question the two-tiered system. A French tourist interviewed outside the museum said there was “no reason” to charge non-Europeans more and that the fee should be the same for everyone.
Tourism experts say the Louvre’s financial pressures help explain the decision.
“The Louvre is really cash-strapped right now and needs to do something,” said Marion Joppe, a professor at the University of Guelph. “It can’t really look to the government, which is already struggling with its own budget.”
The move also reflects a broader global pushback against mass tourism. Anti-tourism protests have spread across parts of Spain, New Zealand has increased its entry tax, and the United States recently raised national park fees for foreign visitors.
“You take Paris — it gets about 50 million tourists a year,” said Julian Karaguesian, an economist at McGill University. “That’s roughly a million a week. The city simply wasn’t built for those kinds of numbers.”
Despite the higher price, many visitors say they will still line up to see the Mona Lisa and other of the museum’s famous artworks.
“It’s one of the main attractions. It’s on everybody’s list,” Moore said. “We’re still going to go, and hopefully it will be worth it in the end.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Canada talks trade with Qatar as Carney touches down in Doha – National TenX News
How could Canada, EU, NATO respond to a U.S. takeover of Greenland? – National TenX News
Louvre raises ticket prices for non-Europeans, hitting Canadian visitors TenX News
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