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We're going to wrap up this live page. 

In summary, Canada has brokered a deal with Germany to sell it one million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year from Ksi Lisims, a largely Indigenous-owned LNG terminal in northern B.C.

This is significant because it's the first deal between the two countries for LNG, a fuel source Germany needs after walking away from its main supplier, Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Germany, a major industrial economy, is scouring the world for new supply because Russia is a non-starter and so much Middle East gas is offline amid the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran — a conflict experts say will have potentially years-long ramifications even if it ends soon.

Prime Minister Mark Carney framed the deal as vindication of his policy to diversify trade away from the U.S.

Germany gains a steady fuel source from a reliable partner and Canada reduces its dependence on the U.S. It opens up new trade routes and deepens partnerships with Europe, something Carney has made a top priority.

Germany's multi-decade commitment to buy all that gas in bulk also means Ksi Lisims, which has long been in planning, is more likely to be built.

The multi-billion dollar project was heralded today by both the federal Liberals and the provincial NDP as a major economic boon, with thousands of jobs expected and financial benefits flowing to Indigenous communities.

The announcement is not without controversy, though.

Environmentalists say Ottawa's decision to effectively greenlight another LNG terminal jeopardizes Canada's climate goals, which were already on shaky ground because the government has moved to tweak or curtail some past environmental policies.

While the Nisga'a Nation backs the project and holds a significant ownership stake, some local Indigenous groups worry about the emissions and ecological destruction associated with a project like this.

In truth, it's far less controversial than another one that's being planned: an oil pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. Coast. That project faces an uphill battle.

I stopped in the Hazeltons, where anti-pipeline signs can be seen along the road into the community, expressing concerns about the impact on salmon and the waters. 

I also met Werner Platzek, a German tourist, who told me his country is very interested in Canadian energy right now as it tries to rely less on Russia, Iran and even the United States. 

"I think it is necessary," Platzek told me after I informed him about today’s announcement.

I've been talking with people in Terrace, Kitimat and the surrounding region and getting perspectives on major stories shaping the region, including LNG.

Community members in Terrace yesterday spoke about how important it is to capture a wide range of opinions and experiences from people in the region, especially when it comes to big industry. 

One thing that came up is that regardless of their stance on industry development, people I've spoken to talked about how uncomfortable they feel when the conversation is black and white. Someone who described themselves as pro-environment was not necessarily against a pipeline expansion, for example, and vice versa. They said they would like all sides considered in the conversation. 

Some locals also voiced their wish to see more money from industry development go towards improvements in the region that benefit local communities. They talked about aging infrastructure, like schools and highways, high costs of living, and expensive air or car travel from the northwest down to the lower mainland for essential trips.

Ksi Lisims promises to be a net-zero ready project that will eventually be powered by hydroelectricity. 

But that won't make a big dent in the emissions generated by the LNG it exports and their ability to make climate change worse.

That's because three-quarters of the emissions from LNG typically come from burning it (downstream combustion) once it's been delivered (in this case to Germany), the International Institute for Sustainable Development reports. 

The remaining quarter of the emissions come mainly from the production, processing and transport of natural gas and LNG. Not a lot is from the liquefaction that will take place at Ksi Lisims.

There's also evidence that LNG emissions may be underestimated. LNG is mostly methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, and estimates don't accurately account for methane leaks through the whole LNG life cycle. A 2024 study from Cornell University found these leaks could represent up to 40 per cent of LNG's footprint, and make it worse than coal in terms of its impact on climate change.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he's skeptical that this LNG project and the partnership with Germany will ever come together, citing the last Liberal government's failed pledge to sell hydrogen to Europe.

Poilievre says there was a splashy announcement with former prime minister Justin Trudeau and the Germans back in 2022 to sell cleaner fuel sources overseas, but that never materialized. The same thing could happen with this LNG project, Poilievre says.

He says the government needs a "geography 101" lesson to remind them of just how far away Germany is from the North Coast of B.C.

"Liberals expect us to believe some day over the rainbow they're going to send our ships all the way around the world," he says.

Hodgson said earlier today the Germany-bound shipping will start in the early 2030s, and not all of the gas will be physically shipped to Germany but rather traded as part of "swaps." That means Germany will trade some of that B.C. Gas to Asia in exchange for fuel from other parts of the world. 

Poilievre says a more logical plan would be selling LNG from ports in eastern Canada to Europe. There were proposals to do just that but Trudeau said there was "no business case," setting back any hope of standing up an LNG sector in Atlantic Canada, Poilievre said.

Hodgson said he expects a final investment decision (FID) giving the green light to the project could come within a matter of months.

There are three things that need to happen before it becomes real: more export agreements need to be made, legal hurdles need to be cleared, and the energy source needs to be completed.

Without buyers who want the LNG, there's no reason to build it. With this deal, there are buyers for about five million of the 12 million metric tonnes of LNG projected to come from Ksi Lisims. Analysts say about 10 million of those tonnes would need to have buyers before the board behind the project would make its FID.

The plant also requires electricity, and the North Coast Transmission Line that would power it hasn't been built yet. The B.C. Government made changes to fast track the transmission line in October 2025 and construction is supposed to begin this summer, with the hopes of being in service by 2030. 

Then there are the legal hurdles. Two First Nations in B.C. Are taking the federal government to court over their approval of the natural gas line facility, saying their concerns over the project were ignored. The Prince Rupert pipeline project that would feed Ksi Lisims with natural gas faces legal challenges of its own, too. These would need to be worked out before the project gets underway.

Throughout today's announcement, Hodgson stressed Canada is a "reliable democracy" and a trustworthy partner that has what the world needs during a time of "global instability."

Those are all thinly veiled references to U.S. President Donald Trump, his protectionist push and the war with Iran that has thrown energy markets into a tailspin. 

In fact, Hodgson said Germany chose Canada in part because it wants to diversify its LNG away from current suppliers — and do business with "stable" countries.

According to the latest figures from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), the U.S. Provides about two-thirds of the LNG that Germany needs to keep the lights on and power its massive industrial economy after it moved away from Russian gas following that country's invasion of Ukraine.

Hodgson, a trusted Carney lieutenant, said an agreement like this vindicates the government's push to reduce Canada's reliance on the U.S. Market and make a play for closer ties to Europe in the current geopolitical context.

"We must build projects that strengthen our economy, that diversify our supply chains and enhance our energy sovereignty as well as expand our exports beyond a single market," Hodgson said.

"We are dealing with the challenges from the United States and the challenges in the world by growing, by building, by diversifying."

Natural gas is mostly methane, a powerful greenhouse gas when it leaks into the atmosphere that also generates the greenhouse gas CO2 when it's burned for fuel. 

As the name implies, it's a gas at temperatures we normally experience. 

That gas can go through land-based pipelines, but it's hard to transport on boats to the other side of the world. So for sea transport, natural gas is cooled down to -160 C. At that temperature, it condenses into a liquid, similar to the way steam condenses into liquid water at cooler temperatures. 

The liquified natural gas, or LNG, takes up just 1/600th of the volume of its gaseous form. It's also purer methane in this form, as the liquefaction process removes water, oxygen, carbon dioxide and sulphur.

Former Canada Energy Regulator CEO Gitane De Silva said Canada's newly announced LNG export agreement with Germany marks a major step toward diversifying energy exports beyond the United States and strengthening ties with Europe amid global energy uncertainty.

"To actually access that European market is very important not only for economics, but for us to become an energy superpower and also for us to cement some of our allegiances with Europe," she said.

De Silva said the agreement also demonstrates Canada's ability to move major energy projects forward in partnership with Indigenous communities, noting the involvement of the Nisga'a Nation in the Ksi Lisims LNG project.

"The fact that this is being done in a joint ownership model with the First Nation I think is also a really important signal," she said.

While acknowledging uncertainty in the global energy transition, De Silva argued natural gas will remain central to the world's energy mix for decades.

"We are still very, very dependent on fossil energy," she said. "Natural gas will remain central to this process."

As Canada looks to diversify its exports, Hodgson said Germany is looking to diversify on the import front. 

Right now, the European country depends on the U.S. For LNG. That’s because previously, the largest share of the country’s gas imports came from Russia.

In the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Russia squeezed Germany's access to gas by limiting the amount flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Residents were told to change heating systems and cut down on gas consumption, as politicians worried about the economic consequences of losing access to a key source of gas. 

Since then, Germany has been weaning itself off of Russian oil. 

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