The Globe and Mail - 11.09.2019

John McBain, President and CEO of Canada

Lands Company, a national real estate developer

and attractions manager, is pleased to confirm

theGovernment of Canada’s appointments of

Jocelyne Houle and Margaret MacDonald to

the company’s Board of Directors, effective

June 19, 2019.

Ms. Houle has had a long career in the public

sector. She was the mayor of the City of Buck-

ingham, Québec, from 1999 to 2001, and be-

came municipal councillor for the Buckingham

District of the City of Gatineau. She also served

as deputy mayor and vice-president of the ex-

ecutive committee of the City. In addition to her

activities in the public sector, Ms. Houle was

proprietor of Houle Jewellers in Buckingham

for 36 years. She is very active in her comm-

unity and is involved with several associations

and community organizations.

Ms. MacDonald is a former deputy minister with

the Province of Nova Scotia, serving in several

portfolios. She has also acted as financial coun-

sel to the Province, as well as legal advisor in

land and resource management transactions

with extensive experience in Crown land legal

matters. Ms. MacDonald has been an active par-

ticipant in many initiatives, including the devel-

opment of public sector accounting standards

and audit engagement.

Canada Lands Company is a self-financing, federal

Crown corporation. Leveraging its subsidiaries,

the Company transforms former Government of

Canada properties and reintegrates them into

local communities while ensuring their long-term

sustainability and commercial viability. Canada Lands

Company also holds, invests in and manages world-

renowned attractions such as the CN Tower and

Downsview Park in Toronto, the Old Port of Montréal

and the Montréal Science Centre.

Jocelyne Houle,Chair

Margaret MacDonald,Director

http://www.clc.ca|[email protected]

B2| REPORTONBUSINESS O THEGLOBEANDMAIL | WEDNESDAY,SEPTEMBER11,

Aimia Inc.’slargest investor has

filed a counterclaim against the

loyalty company and six current

and former members of the

board.Mittleman Bros.also filed

a statement of defence in the

Ontario Superior Court of Justice

that rebuts Aimia’s July lawsuit

accusing the dissident investor of

violating a contracted truce.

The litigious showdown is the

latest development in a drawn-

out battle over control of the

board of directors.

In a statement, Chris Mittle-

man called it “extremely dis-

appointing” that the Aimia

board opted to take matters to

the courts, saying shareholders

“deserve nothing less” than

seasoned business professionals.

Aimia sold the Aeroplan

rewards business to Air Canada

earlier this year for $450-million,

leaving it with significant cash on

hand but also questions about its

future.THECANADIANPRESS

MITTLEMANFILESCOUNTERCLAIMAGAINSTAIMIA

ABUDHABIAustralian oil and gas

producer Woodside Energy is

seeking to reduce its stakes in

the Scarborough gas field at

home and in Canada’s Kitimat

liquefied natural gas (LNG)

project to cut its capital expo-

sure, its CEO said on Tuesday.

The comments by CEO Peter

Coleman came after speculation

Saudi Aramco could be in-

terested in Scarborough. Wood-

side holds a 75-per-cent stake in

the gas field and 50 per cent of

the Kitimat project in Canada.

“We just look at that and say

from a capital management and

risk-management point of view

we would rather hold less equi-

ty,” Mr. Coleman said. “It also

helps us fund through this next

expenditure cycle if we can

reduce our capital requirement.”

REUTERS

WOODSIDESEEKSABUYERFORITSSTAKEINKITIMATLNGPROJECT

Lawyers for the Trump adminis-

tration want a U.S. judge to

throw out a lawsuit from Native

American tribes trying to block

the proposed Keystone XL oil

pipeline from Canada to Ne-

braska.

Tribes in Montana and South

Dakota say U.S. President Do-

nald Trump approved the pipe-

line without considering poten-

tial damage to cultural sites

from spills and construction.

The administration counters

that Mr. Trump’s approval

applies only to a 1.6-kilometre

section of pipeline along the

U.S.-Canada border and not the

rest of the line.

U.S. District Judge Brian

Morris will preside over a

Thursday hearing on the gov-

ernment’s attempt to dismiss

the case. The judge blocked the

line in November, saying more

environmental studies were

needed. But Mr. Trump circum-

vented that ruling in March by

issuing a new permit for the

US$8-billion, 1,900-kilometre

project.

The Assiniboine and Gros

Ventre tribes of the Fort Belk-

nap Indian Reservation in Mon-

tana and South Dakota’s Rose-

bud Sioux tribe say Mr. Trump’s

action violated their rights

under treaties from the

mid-1800s.

“They’re saying we can’t sue

the President, and the tribes’

treaties essentially mean noth-

ing. We completely disagree,”

said Matthew Campbell, a Na-

tive American Rights Fund

lawyer representing the tribes.

“The treaties were agreed to by

the President of the United

States and ratified by the Sen-

ate, so the treaties clearly ap-

ply.”ASSOCIATED PRESS

U.S.SEEKSDISMISSALOFNATIVEAMERICANS’LAWSUITOVERKEYSTONEXLPIPELINE

Two of Canada’s top energy executives are
backing the federalgovernment’s plan to
use a section in the Paris climate accord
that would allow Canada to gain emission
credits for exporting liquefied natural gas
to Asia.
Shell Canada Ltd. president Michael
Crothers and Petronas Energy Canada Ltd.
president Mark Fitzgerald are trying to
fend off criticisms from environmental-
ists, who say exporting LNG isn’t the an-
swer to transitioning to a low-carbon
economy. The parent companies are the
two leading co-owners in LNG Canada,
which began building an $18-billion ex-
port terminal last year in Kitimat, B.C.
Shell and Petronas stand to benefit
from Ottawa’s plan to gain emission cred-
its as energy companies strive to align
their corporate goals with the Paris ac-
cord.
The two Canadian executives say LNG
is a cleaner energy source for power
plants than coal, which is widely used in
Asia to generate electricity. They say that
once LNG Canada starts to export natural
gas in liquid form by early 2025, it would
help decrease air pollution from coal-
fired power plants in countries such as
China.
“Shell sees the potential for bilateral ar-
rangements under the Paris accord to al-
low credit to be given for the low-carbon
intensity exports of gas from Canada to
places in Asia,” Mr. Crothers said.
Under the 2015 Paris agreement to
which Ottawa is a signatory, a section
called Article 6 could clear the way for
bilateral side deals that would mean Can-
ada gains credits toward meeting its tar-
gets for decreasing carbon emissions.
Marc Lee, senior economist with the
B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Pol-
icy Alternatives, said that in many in-
stances, LNG could displace renewable
energy in China.
LNG Canada’s co-owners “want to
make their project look in as favourable
light as possible because they know peo-
ple are concerned about climate-change
impacts, so they’re framing it as some-
thing that’s going to reduce global emis-
sions,” Mr. Lee said.
But Mr. Crothers and Mr. Fitzgerald,
who are both based in Calgary, said dur-
ing interviews while visiting Vancouver
that long-term demand for LNG in Asia is
strong and it’s best to take a global per-
spective on greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-
sions.
“Emissions reduction has to be consid-
ered in the global context. I wish methane
emissions and carbon dioxide stopped at
the borders, but they don’t,” Mr. Fitzger-
ald said. “Energy demand is not going to
go away. Article 6 is one mechanism that
allows us to treat this truly as a global
opportunity.”
Shell Canada’s parent,Royal Dutch
Shell PLC, is the largest partner in LNG
Canada, with a 40-per-cent stake. The oth-
er partners are Petronas Energy Canada’s

parent, Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas

(25 per cent), PetroChina (15 per cent),

Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. (15 per cent) and

South Korea’s Kogas (5 per cent).

“China itself has made commitments

to reduce its emissions. You can see that

one of our partners in our LNG project is

a Chinese company,” Mr. Crothers said.

Environment and Climate Change

Minister Catherine McKenna and Natural

Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi have

expressed their support for emissions

trading. Mr. Sohi told The Globe and Mail

in May that Ottawa views Article 6 as an

opportunity for Canada to

reach bilateral pacts with

countries buying LNG such

as China and Japan.

Isabelle Turcotte, director

of federal policy at clean-en-

ergy think tank Pembina In-

stitute, said she is taking a

wait-and-see attitude until

learning details from the

next Conference of the Par-

ties (COP) to be held in De-

cember in Chile, where Arti-

cle 6 will be a major point of

discussion.

“We’re looking forward to

the next COP with much an-

ticipation,” Ms. Turcotte

said. “We’ll be paying atten-

tion to how these negotiations evolve

and culminate to give us a set of rules

that really make sure that we’re not trad-

ing hot air.”

Details for Article 6 are slated to be

worked out in Chile, including the frame-

work of internationally transferred miti-

gation outcomes (ITMOs), which involve

voluntary co-operation arrangements

between two countries.

Jason Dion, lead researcher at Cana-

da’s Ecofiscal Commission, an economics

think tank, is skeptical about whether

Ottawa will be able to easily tap into Arti-

cle 6 and avoid double-counting of emis-

sion reductions. “Someone is going to

have to pay to turn these low-carbon ex-

ports into ITMOs,” Mr. Dion said. “If the

federal government intended to subsidize

the consumption of LNG abroad, then

that would make Canadian LNG more

competitive internationally and China

maybe would be willing to give up ITMOs

if the fuel came in at a subsidized rate.”

He said that it’s in the interest of LNG

companies to cast their product as part of

the solution to global climate change.

Since British Columbia has its own car-

bon tax and provincial policy dealing with

GHG emissions, LNG Canada isn’t subject

to the federalgovernment’s carbon-pric-

ing regime introduced this

year against large emitters

in five provinces: Ontario,

Manitoba, New Brunswick,

Prince Edward Island and

Saskatchewan (partial appli-

cation), as well as two terri-

tories – Yukon and Nunavut.

The Shell-led project is

aiming for 0.15 carbon-diox-

ide equivalent tonnes for

each tonne of LNG pro-

duced, which is a level be-

low British Columbia’s limit

for “emissions intensity” of

0.16 CO2 equivalent tonnes.

LNG Canada estimates

project-related costs will to-

tal $40-billion for the first

phase, counting the $18-billion Kitimat

terminal and various infrastructure that

includes TransCanada Corp.’s $6.2-billion

Coastal GasLink pipeline, which will run

670 kilometres from northeast British Co-

lumbia to Kitimat. The total budget also

includes billions of dollars a year to be

spent by producers drilling for natural gas

in northeast B.C.

While Coastal GasLink has been ap-

proved by all 20 elected First Nation coun-

cils along the planned route, the pipeline

project has been the target of protests led

by a group of eight Wet’suwet’en Nation

hereditary chiefs. The chiefs have cited

climate change among the reasons for

their opposition to Coastal GasLink.

Shell,Petronas backOttawa’spushfor

Parisclimateaccordemissioncredits

Whiletwoenergycompanies

standtogainfromexporting

LNGtoAsia,criticssayitisn’t

theanswertotransitioning

toalow-carboneconomy

PetronasEnergyCanadapresidentMarkFitzgerald,left,andShellCanadapresidentMichael

Crothers,seeninVancouveronSept.4,sayexportingLNGwouldeventuallyreduceair

pollutionfromcoal-firedpowerplantsincountriessuchasChina.

DARRYLDYCK/THEGLOBEANDMAIL

BRENTJANGVANCOUVER

Emissionsreduction

hastobeconsidered

intheglobalcontext.

Iwishmethane

emissionsand

carbondioxide

stoppedatthe

borders,but

theydon’t.

MARKFITZGERALD

PETRONASENERGY

CANADALTD.PRESIDENT

The legal wrangling overSNC-

Lavalin Group Inc.’sattempts to

sell a stake in Ontario’s Highway

407 will continue, as Ferrovial SA

has decided to appeal a recent

court decision that kept it from

increasing its stake in the lucra-

tive toll road.

Infrastructure company Ferro-

vial’s Cintra Global subsidiary

went to the Ontario Superior

Court to keep the engineering gi-

ant from selling a portion of its

407 stake to the Canada Pension

Plan Investment Board for $3.25-

billion. Cintra said a past deal

where it waived its right to buy

the 407 shares should not apply.

The Ferrovial subsidiary argued

that CPPIB, as a major owner and

operator of infrastructure pro-

jects, was a competitor. It failed

to persuade the court.

Cintra has notified the Court

of Appeal for Ontario, SNC and

CPPIB about its intention to ap-

peal, according to a person famil-

iar with the matter who request-

ed anonymity because they were

not authorized to speak publicly

about it.

SNC spokesman Nicolas Ryan

said the appeal “has no impact”

on his company, as SNC, Cintra

and CPPIB had all agreed that

even if the court’s decision were

to be reversed on appeal, the sale

would proceed and CPPIB and

Cintra would adjust the number

of shares of Highway 407 they

own. The company said Aug. 15

the sale had closed.

The sale provides some mea-

sure of relief for beleaguered SNC

shareholders, who have seen the

company’s shares fall by two-

thirds this year. SNC has said it

intends to use the sale proceeds

to pay down debt. Previously,

CPPIB held just over 40 per cent,

with Cintra owning 43.2 per cent

and SNC 16.8 per cent. SNC sold

10 per cent of the 407, giving it

6.8 per cent and CPPIB 50.01 per

cent. CPPIB declined to com-

ment.

SNC initially announced on

April 5 that it struck a deal to sell

that 10-per-cent stake in High-

way 407 to the Ontario Municipal

Employees Retirement System

(OMERS) for $3-billion in cash

and as much as $250-million in

future payments over 10 years.

Both CPPIB and Cintra exercised

their rights to block the transac-

tion, however.

SNC said Tuesday that it has

“fully paid” OMERS the “break

fee” it owed of just over $80-mil-

lion.

SNC-LAVALIN (SNC)

CLOSE: $17.92, UP $1.

Ferrovialto

appealcourt

decision

awarding

SNC’sstakein

407toCPPIB

DAVIDMILSTEAD

NICOLASVANPRAET