King Charles III opened the Canadian Parliament on Tuesday with a speech that emphasized the country’s sovereignty — and its ability to become a “superpower” in both green and conventional energy.
The rare address came after President Donald Trump’s repeated suggestions that Canada become the 51st state. Reading from a speech written by officials in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, Charles outlined the Liberal government’s goals for the new session of Parliament.
Among them: speed up approvals for “projects of national significance.”
Eliminating barriers that have held back the Canadian economy “will enable the dawn of a new era of growth,” Charles said in French, adding it would allow Canada “to build an industrial strategy that will make Canada more globally competitive while fighting climate change.”
Charles’ visit comes as Carney works to map out a plan for Canada that he says will bolster its economy and reduce its dependence on America, its largest trading partner and a major buyer of Canadian energy. Carney, who built his campaign around opposition to Trump, visited the White House earlier this month to talk about levies placed on vital goods such as cars and steel.
Charles is officially Canada’s head of state, but the last time the Crown opened Parliament was in 1977, when Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, delivered the speech in person.
By mentioning climate change, the speech drew a major distinction between the new Canadian government and Trump, who has dismissed global warming as a hoax and moved to dismantle entire parts of the U.S. government tasked with trying to tackle it.
But climate activists say Carney is trying to have it both ways by exploiting Canada’s fossil fuels while also promoting clean energy.
“Today’s Speech from the Throne strongly emphasized Canadian sovereignty,” Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, said in an email. “Yet Prime Minister Carney missed an opportunity to clarify the energy future he envisions — fighting climate change and becoming a renewables superpower, or doubling down on volatile fossil fuels? We can’t do both.”
Carney, a former central banker for the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, has been a major proponent of the clean energy transition, serving as the United Nations special envoy on climate and finance. But he’s appeared to walk back some of his earlier positions amid Trump’s threats, and the climate finance initiatives he championed have stumbled as corporate climate pledges have come under attack.
In an interview with Canada’s CTV News, Carney said that being an energy superpower meant boosting exports of oil and gas and using more fossil fuels domestically to displace imports, particularly from the United States. It also means becoming a superpower in nuclear, hydropower, and potentially carbon capture and storage, he added.
The speech Charles read Tuesday did not mention Trump by name but described the turbulence his presidency has caused as an “opportunity for renewal.”
Charles listed climate change among the world’s unprecedented challenges. He also described a new federal office that would speed the time needed to approve “major” projects from five years to two years — “all while upholding Canada’s world leading environmental standards and its constitutional obligations to Indigenous peoples.”
Canada is already behind in achieving its climate target for 2030 and has set a new goal for 2035 that would not meet the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement, according to an analysis by Climate Action Tracker, a project that tracks countries’ climate commitments.
Still, the speech left open the possibility of further action and also emphasized the creation of more national parks, marine protected areas and other conservation initiatives.
“Nature is core to Canada’s identity,” Charles said, referring to a global pact struck in Montreal in 2022 to protect 30 percent of the world’s lands and waters as part of a treaty on biodiversity. The United States is not formally part of that treaty.
