CERA Week Reflections Op-Ed
At CERAWeek 2026, the message was clear: countries that lean on reliable, affordable energy with resilient delivery systems like natural gas will lead at home and support allies abroad.
By Susanna Zagar, President & CEO, Canadian Gas Association
CERAWeek isn’t widely known outside the energy sector, but it should be. Now in its 44th year, this premier global gathering in Houston brings together more than 10,000 participants, including government leaders and industry voices from 89 countries, to discuss what’s changing—and what comes next.
In conversation after conversation this week, one point kept surfacing. Energy is no longer discussed only as an environmental or market issue. It’s discussed as a matter of security and competitiveness, with a firm bottom line: the jurisdictions best positioned to attract investment, support industrial growth and strengthen resilience will be those that can deliver the energy people and businesses need.
That is as true for Canada as it is anywhere else. Canada’s ability to deliver for our allies starts with our ability to deliver at home. We would be wise to develop a clear strategy for natural gas – one that is communicated regularly and can serve to benefit both governments and industry as they seek to attract capital to Canada.
What is also clear is that the conversation has moved beyond “all of the above” to something more urgent: we will need MORE of the above. Demand is not waiting. Every credible pathway points to the need for more supply, more infrastructure and more capacity across the system, starting with what we can deliver here at home.
“Demand is not waiting. Every credible pathway points to the need for more supply, more infrastructure and more capacity across the system, starting with what we can deliver here at home.”
In that context, natural gas is not peripheral. It is central to meeting the moment.
Across Canada, the natural gas delivery industry meets 40 per cent of the country’s energy needs through a network that serves more than 7.6 million customer locations. This is a system built for Canadian conditions, one that provides scale, storage and reliability, and positions Canada to both meet domestic demand and contribute to global energy security.
What I have also heard this week is that pressure on the broader North American energy system is only increasing, which means we must permit and build faster to meet consumer demand. All of this is part of a much more practical conversation than the one we were having even a few years ago. The question is not simply what kind of energy future we aspire to. It is whether our systems can deliver affordability, reliability and resilience while that future is being built.
We’re now hearing from Canadian leaders that the future can be built on the shoulders of natural gas. As Minister Hodgson and others have underscored, “energy security is national security.” His recent message is also a welcome signal of ambition: “We will win this race. We will only win it with natural gas.” That clarity is important and worth recognizing. Natural gas is a great enabler—powering AI, supporting onshoring and delivering affordable, reliable energy. But it cannot be treated simply as an export opportunity. Canada must align domestic policy to unlock existing resources and infrastructure to support affordability, economic growth and system resilience.
Canada is uniquely positioned with abundant natural gas resources and an extensive delivery network. That advantage should be part of how we think about resilience and economic strength here at home.
Natural gas underpins affordability. It supports reliability. It enables economic growth. That role should be clearly recognized and supported, not only in global forums like CERAWeek, but in the policies and decisions we make at home on behalf of Canadians.
Canada has an opportunity to approach this moment with confidence and pragmatism and speak to natural gas as the backbone of the energy system that it already is today. If the conversations at CERAWeek are any guide, the decades ahead will ask more of every part of the energy system, not less.