Global Center-Left Rethinks Fossil Fuels: Canada Energy Minister

Canada's Energy Minister Tim Hodgson told Bloomberg that "growing our way to net zero" is the new center-left playbook after years of anti-fossil fuel orthodoxy, citing Mexico as a case study in the hard tradeoffs governments face when ideology meets energy security.

In an interview with Bloomberg’s Javier Blas, Canada's Energy Minister Tim Hodgson discussed that among political parties that had embraced the anti-fossil fuel movement, "all of the above,"  a phrase denoting support for all energy sources, including oil and gas alongside renewables, is back in fashion. The reasoning being that many governments have learned the hard way that restricting oil and gas production before reducing demand leads to energy inflation and social discontent. Mexico is cited as one of the clearest illustrations of this shift.

Blas argues that progressive governments , including Mexico's, are abandoning years of anti-fossil fuel dogma under the weight of energy insecurity, inflation, and electoral pressure. Hodgson notes that Sheinbaum recently announced a plan to tap shale oil and gas reservoirs, and that while she did not use the word, the technique required is fracking: something that until only months ago was treated as a political taboo in her country.

Hydraulic Fracturing in Mexico: A Pragmatic Shift

Sheinbaum's trajectory on this issue has been striking in its speed. During her presidential campaign, she explicitly committed to not permitting fracking. In early April her government publicly embraced the concept of unconventional gas extraction under a "sustainable technology" framework. On April 15, she formally presented a scientific committee, led by the rector of UNAM, Leonardo Lomelí, and including representatives from IPN, UAM, and state universities, tasked with delivering a feasibility assessment within two months, with Coahuila identified as the likely pilot zone.

The structural pressure behind the shift is unambiguous.Mexico currently imports approximately 75% of its natural gas consumption, the vast majority sourced from Texas. That dependency has been exposed as a strategic vulnerability by the global price spike triggered by the US-Iran conflict, which has pushed Brent crude above US$97/b and sent natural gas prices rising across North American markets. The country holds an estimated 141.5 trillion cubic feet in prospective unconventional resources, a reserve base that, if accessible, could change Mexico's energy balance fundamentally by 2030.

As explained by expert Fernando Cruz, Director Energy and Board Member, Kannbal Consulting, “In various conversations with colleagues in the sector since the previous administration (AMLO), most agree that the ideological stance would sooner or later need to change. The challenge for the current government is to do so without losing its political essence, thus avoiding internal friction that complicates solutions and delays projects. My experience in this industry tells me that decisions must be made promptly; otherwise, the market itself will make them for you sooner rather than later. There is no other option.”

Canada's "Value-Based Pragmatism" and the Broader Shift

Canada is the column's central case study, precisely because it had been, under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, one of the most emblematic examples of the anti-fossil fuel turn. Blas puts the question directly to Hodgson, the new energy minister serving under Carney's center-left government: can oil drilling be “woke” again? Hodgson's answer is an emphatic yes. Describing himself and his government as "value-based pragmatists," Hodgson says the aim is to "engage the world the way it is, not the way we wish it was."

Hodgson described Canada's approach as that of "value-based pragmatists," adding that his government intends to "engage the world the way it is, not the way we wish it was." When asked about leaving oil and gas in the ground, a position many on the left had advocated, Hodgson was direct: "If you have the luxury of leaving in the ground, God bless you," but made clear that is not a choice Canada is prepared to make.

Hodgson articulated the shift in terms of growth rather than austerity: "I think there was a sense coming out of Paris that we were going to cut our way to net zero. And I think what the prime minister says now is "we are gonna grow our way to net zero."

According to Blas, if demand for oil and gas exists globally, suppressing domestic production only relocates output to less regulated producers elsewhere, while costing the domestic economy tax revenues, jobs, and energy security. For center-left parties specifically, opposing fossil fuels has also carried a political cost in blue-collar constituencies, a vulnerability that conservative parties in several democracies have exploited effectively.

The Bloomberg analysis notes that the rethink is not uniform. The United Kingdom, for example, remains opposed to new drilling in the North Sea, at least for now. For Mexico, the geopolitical timing is particularly sharp. The country's gas import dependency from a single supplier, the United States, has become a topic of active discussion in the USMCA review negotiations, where Washington has identified overdue Pemex payments to American energy suppliers exceeding US$2.5 billion and raised systemic barriers affecting private sector participation in the Mexican energy market. Reducing dependence on US gas, through whatever technically and environmentally acceptable means become available, directly addresses both the energy security and bilateral trade dimensions of Mexico's current position.