Episode Details

Martha Hall Findlay is not your typical energy commentator. She is a former Liberal MP, former chief sustainability officer at Suncor, one of the architects of the Pathways carbon capture project, and now director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. She ran for the Liberal leadership on a platform of building the Northern Gateway pipeline. She spent years championing carbon capture as Canada's path forward on emissions.This May she published a piece in the Globe and Mail recommending Canada pause the entire Pathways carbon capture project. She joins Jim Csek to explain why, and to make the case for what Canada should be doing instead.This is a wide-ranging, deeply informed conversation on energy from someone with rare credibility across the political spectrum.Topics covered:► Hall Findlay's argument for pausing the Pathways CCUS project: a global consensus no longer exists, the project would reduce global emissions by just 0.02%, and Canada has more urgent priorities for the billions of dollars it would cost► Why she was one of the original architects of Pathways and what changed her mind: the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump's election, the collapse of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, and a world that has simply moved on► Canada's 25-year failure to capitalize on its energy resources and why Hall Findlay says that crosses party lines, noting no major pipeline was built under Harper either► The chicken and egg problem blocking a west coast pipeline: producers will not increase output without a viable pipeline, and no pipeline will be built without committed production to fill it► David Eby's opposition to the pipeline, the constitutional reality of federal jurisdiction over interprovincial infrastructure under Section 92(10)(a), and why Hall Findlay says Eby cannot legally block construction► The tanker ban as an explicitly anti-pipeline measure that was never genuinely about coastline protection, with Hall Findlay calling it un-Canadian from the moment it was proposed► Supply management in dairy, poultry, and eggs: Hall Findlay raised this as a Liberal leadership candidate and still believes Canada would be better off without it► The IPCC's actual science versus how it has been reported: the reports work on probabilities and possibilities, not certainties, and have been consistently misrepresented by media and environmental groups► Why investor confidence does not return simply because regulations are trimmed and the reputational damage of being a flip-flopping jurisdiction takes years to repair► Quebec's fracking ban and the natural gas sitting under the province that a separatist referendum's economic reality might eventually unlock► Why indigenous partnership is not a challenge to be managed but an opportunity to build major projects the right way, with Hall Findlay drawing on lessons from Trans Mountain and Northern GatewayHall Findlay spent years building the case for carbon capture. She is now the one recommending Canada pause it. Watch the full conversation to understand why.Do you think Canada should continue pursuing carbon capture?Let us know in the comments.The Really Big Show: the thinking Canadian's daily briefing, independent and informed.🔴 Live every weekday at 9AM PST📍 Independent. Unapologetic. Canadian.👉 Support the show: https://thereallybigshow.caSubscribe | Share | Comment — help us grow independent Canadian media.#canadiannews #canadapolitics #canada #nowmedia #thereallybigshow #marthahallfindlay #carboncapture #canadianenergy #pathways #pipeline