Canada has not made a decision about lifting Arctic drilling ban, Carney says

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Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that his government has not made a decision about lifting its decade-long moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, a move that some Northern leaders have advocated for as a way to increase the region’s economic self-sufficiency.

CALGARY -- Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that his government has not made a decision about lifting its decade-long moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, a move that some Northern leaders have advocated for as a way to increase the region’s economic self-sufficiency.

Last week’s federal budget contained a reference to $11 million (US$7.79 million) in funding over four years to “support the governance and oversight of offshore oil and gas activities in the Arctic Ocean.” Carney told reporters in Montreal the budget item represents “capacity funding” for Inuit leadership, with whom the federal government has agreed to jointly manage natural resources in the North.

“It is absolutely not, in any way, shape or form, a decision about lifting the moratorium,” Carney said. “It is respectful engagement with that self-government.”

“Any possible discussion with respect to the future of the moratorium would respect existing agreements, Inuit and territorial self-government, and uphold Canada’s strong environmental standards,” Canada’s Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs Rebecca Chartrand said in an emailed statement.

Carney has been seeking to grow Canada’s energy sector in order to boost the country’s economy in the face of U.S. tariffs. He has faced criticism from environmentalists for the dropping or easing of a range of climate regulations in pursuit of economic growth.

The Toronto Star reported on Monday that Carney’s government is considering lifting the ban on oil and gas activities in the Arctic, quoting a Department of Finance official. The Finance Department referred Reuters to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Canada’s moratorium on Arctic offshore oil and gas exploration has been in place since 2016, when then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then-U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump later reopened parts of the Arctic to oil and gas drilling, but the…

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