Last week, New Brunswick’s Liberal government led by Premier Susan Holt announced “a public review to examine whether the conditions associated with the province’s moratorium on natural gas development still reflect today’s science, technology, market and regulatory best practices.”

For 12 years, New Brunswick has maintained a moratorium on the shale gas development, first implemented by former Liberal Premier Brian Gallant.

The former PC government led by then-Premier Blaine Higgs, made a slight regulatory change in 2019, under the Oil and Natural Gas Act, allowing for an exemption to the moratorium in the Sussex area. 

The focus of the Holt government’s review will be as follows:

• First Nations rights, interests and priorities: The perspectives, priorities and information needs identified by First Nations leadership and communities, including potential approaches to partnerships, governance, benefits and safeguarding the environment.
• The resource: The size and nature of New Brunswick’s natural gas resources and the current state of the industry.
• Science, technology and environmental impacts: What the latest science says about potential impacts on water, health and the environment, as well as advances in technology and methods for developing natural gas resources safely.
• Economic benefits: How royalties, jobs, investment and other economic benefits could deliver value to New Brunswickers and communities.
• Public support: The views of New Brunswickers, communities and stakeholders on the potential for responsible natural gas development.

At a time of rising deficit and debt, and anemic economic growth, New Brunswick’s government should be applauded for this initial move and should resist the loudest critics who shun development of any kind.

Natural gas development has had an interesting political history in New Brunswick.

In 2014, then-Premier David Alward, a Progressive Conservative, waged his re-election campaign largely on economic development in general, and natural gas development in particular.

Tom Bateman, Don Desserud and JP Lewis, in their essay on the 2014 provincial election, noted the following: ” The fact that the fracking debate came to dominate the 2014 election campaign should not have come as a surprise to anyone who followed the PC government closely from its election in 2010. By 2011, Premier Alward was making the case that shale gas would generate essential revenue to help the New Brunswick government pay for program delivery in the province. As Alward worked to build his case, protests against shale gas emerged with some companies halting their operations. Nevertheless, and throughout the four years of the PC tenure, New Brunswickers remained firmly divided on the issue.” (View the PDF)

From 2006 to 2010, former Liberal Premier Shawn Graham advocated extensively for an energy hub, as part of his government’s self-sufficiency agenda. The most notable policy attempt on the energy front was the proposed sale of NB Power to Hydro Quebec, which helped result in Graham’s Liberals losing to the Alward PCs in the 2010 election.