TC CEO urges quicker timelines as globe clamours for stable energy supplies

François Poirier, President & Chief Executive Officer, TC Energy Corp pictured at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Kathleen Kennedy NYSE (Mandatory Credit)

CALGARY — Canada risks missing out on opportunities to provide global markets with a secure supply of energy if permitting timelines aren’t significantly shortened, said the chief executive of natural gas pipeline operator TC Energy Corp.

There’s been heightened demand for more liquefied natural gas exports off the West Coast of North America -- especially to Asia -- since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran about three weeks ago, Francois Poirier said in an interview.

“The shorter the permitting timelines in Canada, the more competitive Canada can be,” he said.

“I would very much like to see permitting timelines for pipelines to the coast get shorter -- and significantly shorter.”

Poirier points to a recent seven-month permitting process for TC’s Southeast Gateway project in Mexico.

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“There was a full environmental review. All safety standards were considered and assessed in providing us with those permits. So there are examples of regulatory processes happening that quickly,” he said.

“And what I would simply urge all of us to do is recognize that when you’re competing for a customer’s business, it’s the customer that sets the timeline.”

In recent times, it has taken several years for new projects to be approved in Canada. Federal legislation passed last year aims to make reviews more streamlined and quick, with federal assessments capped at two years. Poirier and other energy sector leaders have called for six-month timelines.

Poirier has lamented how long it has taken for Canada to get its LNG industry up and running while competitors like the U.S. and Australia have raced ahead. But he said the current instability in the world brings some “positive momentum.”

He added that the Middle East conflict has underscored how much customers appreciate getting their energy from suppliers that can avoid pinch points like the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supplies ordinarily pass from the Persian Gulf to the open sea.

The narrow waterway has been all but choked off in recent weeks, sending Asian and European gas prices soaring. And even if the war were to end imminently, the prospects of Qatar’s massive plant becoming operational again look bleak.

QatarEnergy’s chief executive told Reuters on Thursday that Iranian attacks have taken 17 per cent of the country’s LNG export capacity offline. Almost 13 million tons per year will be absent from the market for three to five years while repairs take place, Saad al-Kaabi told the news service.

Canada has one LNG export facility in operation -- the Shell-led LNG Canada project in Kitimat, B.C., which is supplied by the Coastal Gas Link pipeline TC Energy built. The partners are contemplating an expansion and a handful of other projects are at various stages of development.

Exports from the B.C. coast have shorter shipping distances to Asia relative to other origin points and can cross the Pacific relatively unimpeded.

Poirier made his remarks as TC Energy marks its 75th anniversary. The company, then known as Trans-Canada Pipe Lines Ltd., was formed through a special Act of Parliament in 1951. In 1958, the company completed what was at the time the longest pipeline in the world, connecting Alberta gas to Ontario.

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It took four years from the concept phase to having the pipeline up and running, Poirier said.

“We need to have the same kind of ingenuity and know-how and can-do attitude, albeit at a much larger scale because now we’re competing on the world stage.”

A report released last month by Investors for Paris Compliance, which aims to hold publicly listed companies to their net-zero commitments, argued Canada’s bet on LNG is a risky one, likening the industry to a casino at which equity holders in LNG businesses would bear the brunt of any potential losses.

“Proponents appealing to ‘security’ arguments are wilfully ignoring the insecurity of the industry,” the report said.

“Canada’s high reliance on fossil fuels in the face of the energy transition presents economic risk. Further concentration into fossil fuels via LNG expansion would trade one risky dependency -- trade with the United States -- for another: fossil fuel overproduction.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2026.

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press