Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the federal government is "not interested" in supporting future liquefied natural gas projects, including electrifying projects currently under development.

In an interview with CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, aired on Sunday, Wilkinson said these investments are left to the private sector.

Wilkinson said, "The government opposes using public funds to finance support for inefficient fossil fuels, we are the first country in the world to actually do that. We are not interested in investing in liquefied natural gas facilities. That is the role of the private sector, they need to assess commercial viability and make the investments."

The minister’s comments come just days after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis exclusively told CTV Question Period that Greece would be interested "of course" in purchasing liquefied natural gas from Canada if the supply was available.

Mitsotakis said: “We are a major entry point for liquefied natural gas, not only for the Greek market but also for the Balkans and Eastern Europe.” "Theoretically, we could even supply Ukraine."

When asked if Canada could be an ideal partner in that, Mitsotakis said "definitely."

He said, “Canada is a country with which we share many values,” pointing to his country’s support for Canada on many geopolitical issues, including Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas.

Germany and Japan have also expressed interest in purchasing liquefied natural gas from Canada. But in August 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was not convinced that liquefied natural gas exports are part of Canada’s long-term plan to become a reliable supplier of clean energy to Europe.

Trudeau explained, "We are in a short-term situation, where we will do our best to contribute to global energy supplies by ramping up our capacities ... and exploring ways to see if exporting liquefied natural gas makes sense, and whether there is a commercial case; the issue for him is exporting liquefied natural gas directly to Europe."

The question of whether Canada is able to plan exports to European countries in the future has been a subject of ongoing political debate for years. Supporters of liquefied natural gas say the energy source can play a key role in working toward a low-carbon future. But environmental critics worry that expanding liquefied natural gas use will prolong fossil fuel use.

On Thursday, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs testified before a House of Commons committee meeting and urged Ottawa to export liquefied natural gas to Europe to replace the federal carbon tax. Last year, Repsol decided not to develop a liquefied natural gas terminal in Saint John due to associated costs.

Wilkinson said, "New Brunswick can move forward on its own if it wants to ship liquefied natural gas to Europe."

He added, "Certainly Premier Higgs, who has gas resources in New Brunswick, if he chooses to develop them, can actually look to develop a project that can ship liquefied natural gas to Europe, but obviously that has to be done in a way consistent with New Brunswick’s climate plan."

Any future liquefied natural gas projects will need to meet Canada’s 2030 climate targets, which include a goal to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas by at least 75 percent from 2012 levels by 2030. Wilkinson says achieving this reduction target will require relying on clean power sources for liquefied natural gas production.

Wilkinson said, “You have to do a lot to reduce upstream methane emissions, and we are working on regulations that require 75 percent reductions. You actually have to, using clean electricity — you can’t just burn natural gas to liquefy it, otherwise, the carbon footprint you leave is too large.”

When Kapelos asked him if he was ideologically opposed to exporting liquefied natural gas as a resource, Wilkinson pointed to ongoing projects in Western Canada but reiterated the importance of projects meeting climate commitments.

Wilkinson said, “We support work that can be done to replace heavy hydrocarbons, but it must be within a framework consistent with commitments made by us and others.”

According to Natural Resources Canada, there are currently eight liquefied natural gas export projects "at various stages of development throughout Canada." The liquefied natural gas project in Canada led by Shell in Kitimat, British Columbia, will be the first large-scale liquefied natural gas export facility in Canada and aims to export for the first time by 2025 to Asian markets.