The federal government is offering a lifeline to the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore energy sector to the tune of $75 million.
But there’s a catch: the money is earmarked for capital investments and research geared toward emissions reductions.
The funding is part of billions of dollars announced Friday by the federal government aimed at helping a number of struggling sectors, namely energy, arts, entertainment, start-ups and rural businesses.
The money
Speaking with media, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the provision of $750 million for the oil sector to help companies invest in technologies to reduce their methane emissions, with 10 per cent of that specifically targeted at Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore sector.
Trudeau also announced $1.7 billion in aid to clean up abandoned and orphan wells in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and said the federal government is working to expand credit on a commercial basis for midsize energy companies so they can continue to maintain their business and support employees.
Together, the government says these initiatives are expected to address the short-term liquidity needs of these companies by helping sustain and create oil-sector jobs while also helping the industry in its efforts to achieve net zero emissions.
“Just because we are in one crisis right now doesn't mean we can forget about the other crisis — the climate crisis that we're also facing as a world, as a country,” Trudeau said.
Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan, speaking with media via video conference, said living in Newfoundland and Labrador, he knows first hand how hard Canada's petroleum industry has been hit..
“It's an industry facing not one but two fundamental crises, the impacts of COVID-19 and subsequent drop in global demand of 30 to 35 per cent, and the impacts of a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia that flooded the market with underpriced product,” he said.
O’Regan said many of the already-announced measures are assisting businesses in the petroleum sector, and the federal government is working with the G20, the International Energy Agency and the U.S. to bring price stability to the oil market.
Money for other sectors
The arts, culture and sports sector, which has also been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, received an injection of $500 million on Friday.
There are few details on how that funding will be doled out, but Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said it will be aimed at those who have fallen through the cracks of the government’s existing COVID-19 emergency support and will be consistent with the aim of those measures, to assist organizations with things like wages and fixed costs.
The COVID-19 emergency support fund for cultural, heritage and sports organizations will be administered by Canadian Heritage with support from partners such as the Canada Council for the Arts, and Guilbeault said the federal government will continue working with the sector to fine tune this financial aid.
Guilbeault aso announced that national Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa will be replaced by virtual celebrations this year, and his department is working with Canadian artists to put together a program showcasing Canada’s talent and diversity.
Also on Friday, the federal government announced it is doubling the budgets of Canada’s regional economic development agencies, including the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency by nearly $1 billion.
Economic Development Minister Mélanie Joly said funding is aimed at providing grants and loans to smaller employers in rural areas that may have limited access to financial institutions to access existing emergency programs.
Finally, $250 million will be available in a “matter of days,” according to Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, for early-stage firms and start-ups that do not qualify for the wage subsidy or business liquidity measures that have already been announced.
Bains said he expects the funding will help more than 1,000 firms maintain 10,000 jobs over the next three months.
