Senior federal officials touted a proposed liquefied natural gas facility in Quebec as having the potential to export “substantial volumes” of LNG to Europe, documents show.
The revelation appears in a federal briefing note prepared in May after Marinvest Energy Canada, a subsidiary of a Norwegian energy company, requested a meeting with the top bureaucrat at the federal Natural Resources Department to discuss its plans.
Although a company representative said a lower-level public servant met with them instead of the department’s deputy minister, the meeting was part of a flurry of lobbying activity in recent months that targeted high-level government officials, political staffers in the office of Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Publicly, the government has said little about the project, which is still in very early stages. But according to the documents obtained by The Canadian Press, public servants were keen to hear the company’s views on the federal regulatory process last spring, as the Liberal government was preparing to table legislation to fast-track major projects.
The facility “could position Canada to export substantial volumes of Canadian natural gas to Europe in support of its medium-term energy security and long-term energy transition,” said the briefing note for the deputy minister of Natural Resources Canada.
Federal officials who drafted and approved the briefing note also recommended the government ensure the company was aware of the importance of engaging early with First Nations. The Quebec government in 2021 rejected a similar fossil fuel project in the province’s Saguenay region, which had attracted widespread opposition, including from Indigenous communities.
Details about the meeting in May were not previously reported by the company and are only coming to light as a result of the documents obtained by The Canadian Press. A representative for the company said it didn’t report this meeting on the federal lobbying registry, explaining it was not required to do so since the deputy minister did not attend.
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Plans for a new natural gas pipeline and LNG export facility near Baie-Comeau, Que., along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in the province’s Côte-Nord region, were first made public in July by Quebec newspaper Le Devoir.
At the time, Greg Cano, chief operating officer for Marinvest Energy Canada, said in a statement that there is a “clear and growing demand” for LNG in Europe, and Quebec is “strategically well-positioned to meet this need.”
The May briefing note advises the government to “seek insight on the project’s current status, and next steps,” and to inquire “on Marinvest’s long-term forecast of European LNG demand.”
It also recommends inviting “the proponent’s views on the federal regulatory process and timelines, within the context of the new government’s commitment to develop more efficient processes.”
In June, Parliament passed Bill C-5, Carney’s signature legislation meant to speed up approvals for projects deemed to be in the national interest. Hodgson’s office did not respond to questions this week about the Marinvest project, but said in a statement that all projects to be referred to the new major projects office must strengthen Canada’s autonomy, provide economic benefits, have a high likelihood of success, benefit Indigenous peoples and contribute to climate change goals.
In a statement, Marinvest said it would be “speculative at this stage” to say whether its LNG project could be formally designated a project of national interest. However, the company added that the project aligns with Bill C-5’s goals of “Canadian autonomy, resilience, security, economic benefits, and advancement of Indigenous interests.”
The Canadian subsidiary of the Norwegian company Marinvest Energy AS was listed in Quebec’s business registry in June. Cano is named as its sole Canadian shareholder.
Though the company reports having no salaried employees in Quebec, it has already hired several lobbyists to pitch the project to government officials. Four lobbyists with the public relations firm National are currently registered to lobby the federal government on behalf of the company.
Apart from lobbying staff in Carney’s and Hodgson’s offices, the company has also lobbied Canada’s ambassador to Norway.
The communications were to “determine the applicable conditions for implementing a transformative and beneficial energy project for the future of Quebec and Canada,” according to details in the lobbyist registry.
In its statement, Marinvest said it has held “exploratory meetings” with government officials. “These discussions remain preliminary, as the project is still in development,” the company said, adding that it has not yet submitted a “defined project” for review.
Marinvest said its “immediate priority” is engaging with First Nations about the project. The May briefing note from Natural Resources Canada says the government should “emphasize the importance of engaging Indigenous communities early in the project design and planning process,” and should ask the company about its plans to “engage Indigenous communities… ahead of the regulatory application.”
An attachment to the document notes that a previous proposal for a natural gas pipeline and export facility in Quebec’s Saguenay region “faced opposition from Indigenous communities, including Innu in northern Quebec.”
The Quebec government axed that project in 2021, saying it risked “disadvantaging the energy transition.” The following year, it was also rejected by the federal government, after the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada found it was likely to harm the environment.
A spokesperson for Quebec Economy Minister Christine Fréchette said she could not comment on Marinvest, since “no project has officially been submitted.”
But she said the Trump administration has disrupted the Quebec economy and the province has “a duty to objectively and rigorously examine projects of national interest.”
Three lobbyists from National are registered to lobby the Quebec government on behalf of Marinvest. Quebec Premier François Legault has previously confirmed that members of his team have met with the project’s proponents.
Louis Couillard, a climate campaigner with Greenpeace Canada, said the renewed discussion of LNG in Eastern Canada is a reaction to the Liberal government’s focus on big projects. He said the Marinvest project seems very similar to the one that Quebec rejected four years ago, but the context has changed since then.
“We’re seeing there’s a political appetite. But in terms of the business case, there’s no known investors yet for that project. It’s a small Norwegian company,” he said.
“When I look at it, I think it’s completely unserious. But there’s a small army of lobbyists … and they’re meeting all the highest politicians in the country. Somehow, somewhere, there are people that think this is a serious project.”