New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs met last week with European officials and business leaders to reinvigorate investor interest in Canadian LNG and hydrogen, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau poured cold water on several projects.

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“I feel confident we would have investors with serious capital if we had an open door to do such projects,” he said in a telephone interview with the Financial Post. “Europe’s need for energy is urgent. Canada can be part of the solution, but we just don’t get it here. There is a crisis that people in Europe feel directly. We are a resource- and energy-rich nation and we’re seen as a nation that is not doing its part. I intend to try and make this more of an issue.”

In April, Higgs spoke out after Spanish energy giant Repsol SA withdrew from a planned LNG project in New Brunswick. High costs were blamed for Repsol’s decision, but Canada’s federal government was the real problem. In August, Trudeau told Germany there’s “never been a strong business case” for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from Canada; and, in January, he told Japan the same. “Trudeau’s stewardship is a disaster. Like a dream world,” said Higgs.

Last week in Europe, Higgs presented the case for investing in New Brunswick energy at the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam. An engineer with more than 30 years’ experience in the energy field, he delivered a keynote to officials and energy traders about his province’s ambitious plan to create a “green energy hub” at the Port of Belledune, to develop clean energy projects, produce green hydrogen for export, as well as to develop the province’s natural gas, wind power, battery storage and small modular nuclear reactor industries. He said a direct trade corridor has already been established with Niedersachsen Ports in Germany.

“If developed, our natural gas could offer a significant opportunity to assist immediately with world energy needs. It would be a major source for LNG, both as a replacement for coal and as a possible feedstock for hydrogen production if coupled with carbon capture and storage. What’s more is that we have deep water ports and industrial capabilities in Belledune and Saint John, making them ideal locations for future hydrogen hubs,” he said in his address.

“New Brunswick is sitting on reserves that could be crucial to world supply, but we need to find a way to have a meaningful dialogue with First Nations. We need to do this because time is of the essence,” he added. “Our LNG plant imports now, but can be converted to export quickly. We are home to Irving Oil Limited, who operate Canada’s largest refinery and who is a major hydrogen producer already — all of which is used for internal consumption. As part of their transition plan, it has just recently announced it will be the first in Canada to use an electrolyzer to produce hydrogen within a refinery.”

Higgs said previously that natural gas is the key transition fuel to a greener economy that uses hydrogen as a fuel, but Ottawa must settle outstanding land claims in Atlantic Canada that are standing in the way of resource development. “The model is that out West, First Nations are involved in building an LNG plant,” he said.

The federal government’s mindset is as foolish as was Germany’s, which closed down its nuclear plants and became totally dependent on Russian natural gas, Higgs suggested. “I intend to try to make this more of an issue. I’m glad I went to Europe because I saw what people who are experienced in energy understand. In Canada, political statements that the government will shut down fossil fuels is like when Germany said it would shut down nukes. What are your options? Natural gas is the cleanest transition to hydrogen years from now, helped by nuclear power.”

Higgs wants to remove obstacles in Canada. “Traders supplying Germany had hoped Canada would be supplying gas reserves,” he said. “The U.S. has … become the world’s biggest LNG exporter in just five years while Canada discourages the use of natural gas. Instead of their wish list, the federal government needs a reality check.”