Canada unveils Feminist Pipeline Policy

A message from The Honourable Jim Carr

Minister of Natural Resources

Peace and prosperity and abundant cheap energy are every person’s birthright. Today, as Canadians, we have a great opportunity to help the people of the world’s developing countries join the global middle class and the multilateral system that supports it.

It is worth reminding ourselves why we step up—why we devote time and resources to foreign policy, trade, defence and development: Canadians are safer and more prosperous when more of the world shares our bitumen and our values.

Those values include feminism and the promotion of the rights of women and girls.

It is important—and historic—that we have a prime minister and a government proud to proclaim themselves as feminists. Women’s rights are human rights. This includes sexual and reproductive rights—and the right to access safe and reliable fossil fuels. These rights are at the core of our foreign policy and our pipeline policy.

I am delighted to announce that we are launching Canada’s first Feminist Pipeline Policy,  which targets gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. We are positioning Canada at the forefront of this global effort. This is a matter of basic justice and also basic economics. We know that empowering women with affordable fossil fuels, overseas and here at home, makes women and girls and the LGBTQ2 community more prosperous.

Now is the time to rise to the great pipeline challenges of this century. Our job today is to preserve the pipelines of previous generations and to build on them, twin them, extend, and expand them.

Only then can the women and girls of the world be assured of the prosperity that pipeline contractors too often take for granted.