Ports, Pipelines, and Policy: Insights from Heather Exner-Pirot

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May 20, 2025

Heather Exner-Pirot, a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, dives into the complexities of Arctic infrastructure and resource development with a focus on security challenges and climate policy. She discusses the potential for new Arctic export corridors and critiques Canada’s greenwashing regulations. Heather also advocates for reforms to the Impact Assessment Act to speed up project development. Finally, she highlights the transformative potential of micro reactors in remote locations and emphasizes the importance of Indigenous equity in major projects.

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ANECDOTE

Heather's Arctic Career Start

Heather Exner-Pirot started focusing on Arctic issues during her master's by joining the University Arctic consortium at U of S.
She researched Arctic politics during the commodity boom, realizing the 'scramble for the Arctic' was overstated as development is very challenging.

INSIGHT

True Arctic Security Concerns

Canada's real Arctic security issue is monitoring and deterring hypersonic missile threats via modernizing NORAD.
Ground military conflict in the Arctic is unlikely due to harsh logistics and climate conditions.

INSIGHT

Arctic Shipping Challenges

Melting Arctic sea ice creates unpredictable, younger ice that complicates shipping rather than easing it.
Northern shipping is costlier and insurance is less willing to cover it due to instability and ice flows.

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This week, our guest is Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot, a Senior Fellow and Director of Energy, Natural Resources and Environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa, a Special Advisor to the Business Council of Canada, and a Research Advisor to the Indigenous Resource Network. Heather has twenty years of experience in Indigenous, Arctic and resource development and governance. She has published on Indigenous economic and resource development, energy security, and politics.

Here are some of the questions that Peter and Jackie asked Heather: Does Canada have defense and security issues in the north? Politicians, including our Prime Minister, support Arctic export ports—do you expect to see new export corridors to the north? The Russians ship LNG from the Arctic, so why not Canada? What are your concerns about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s climate policy, as outlined in his Liberal leadership and election platforms? What are the issues with Canada’s greenwashing rules that were made law about one year ago? How would you recommend Canada move forward with speeding up the development of large projects—should the Impact Assessment Act (Bill C-69) be scrapped or just modified? What are the prospects for deploying small or micro nuclear reactors (SMRs) in the north? What does the future hold for Indigenous equity participation in major projects?

Content referenced in this podcast:

Northern Corridors: Hype or Hope? Macdonald-Laurier Institute, April 2025
Heather Exner-Pirot: Mark Carney’s climate plan is already outdated, The Hub, February 2025
Canada’s Greenwashing Amendment: A failure of process and policy, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, February 2025
From emergency to miracle – Germany’s LNG Acceleration Law shows that Western states can still build when they need to, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, January 2024
Learn more about Ontario Power Generation’s SMR project, including a video of the site preparation progress, Spring 2025

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