Carney says Canada a reliable oil exporter with moves to increase production

Prime Minister Mark Carney says that countries like Canada do not need to have oil reserves as a net exporter, after the energy minister announced Canada will contribute 23.6 million barrels to help stabilize international energy markets.

The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency, including Canada, have agreed to a co-ordinated release of oil stocks as the war in Iran destabilizes oil supply chains.

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“The rules are you should have at least 90 days reserves for those importers. What we do is we provide oil to the global market. We will continue to do so because we are a safe, low-risk, low-cost, and increasingly low-carbon exporter,” Carney said during a media scrum at the Holmenkollen Skifestival on Saturday with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

Carney said that this contribution will require Canada increase its oil production.

The prime minister said he met with Norwegian energy company Equinor Saturday morning to talk about the proposed Bay du Nord oil project off the coast of Newfoundland.

“That will provide additional, not in the short term but in the medium term — again, very low carbon oil in terms of production and transportation, which is one of the reasons why it’s attractive,” Carney said.

Equinor says they have an estimated initial investment of $14 billion in the Bay du Nord project.

A spokesperson for Carney said he also had a meeting with Landsvirkjun, the national energy company of Iceland.

Carney also met with Maersk, an international shipping company responsible for about 15 per cent of global container traffic, the spokesperson said.

While these meetings are happening about potential future investment and jobs, Canada posted 84,000 lost jobs in February.

When asked about this, Carney countered by saying the country has added 84,000 net jobs in the last year.

“The second is that every month wages have grown faster than inflation. In fact, you saw in the most recent month wage growth above four per cent … Canadians are getting ahead. It’s going to take longer for that to fully realize,” Carney said, noting inflation rose “a lot” in the last couple of years.

Carney said that the government is moving forward with a variety of significant projects, and pointed to new military bases and the upcoming construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway announced in Yellowknife at the start of this trip.

The prime minister also touted the creation of the Major Projects Office to speed up approvals of nation building projects, but a senior official briefing reporters on the trip — under the condition they not be named — said the office has not yet issued an approval but several projects are under consideration.

Outside of business meetings, Carney visited Holmenkollen, Norway, just north of Oslo, where he met with some Canadian athletes competing in the International Ski Federation Nordic World Cup. This included Olympians Alison Mackie and Xavier McKeever.

Canadian media were informed that Carney also met with the king and queen of Norway at the Holmenkollen Skifestival, but that was a closed event.

After the festival, Carney and Store will return to Oslo for a dinner meeting.

Senior government officials briefing reporters before the trip said the meeting will focus on foreign investment, clean energy, critical minerals, aerospace and artificial intelligence.

The two leaders are also expected to talk about global energy security as the war in Iran continues to disrupt supply chains.

“The like-mindedness is really based on some key economic foundations,” Store said during the media scrum.

“Prime Minister Carney, during this year, has made a real new boost in that relationship across the Atlantic. And we sometimes call Canada an honorary Nordic.”

Carney and Store are scheduled to meet with the leaders of four other Nordic nations on Sunday.

Store said that the meeting was convened after he told the leaders of Iceland, Denmark, Finland and Sweden — collectively known as the Nordic Five — that Carney was going to be in Norway this weekend.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2026.