Feds admit they haven’t enacted any policies toward advancing promise to release 23.6 million barrels of oil

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson speaks during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, June 18, 2026. Photo by HYUNGCHEOL PARK /Postmedia

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The Liberal government has not enacted any policies toward releasing 23.6 million barrels of oil onto the global market, part of Ottawa’s promise earlier this year to partake in a strategic stockpile release among Western allies. 

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On March 11, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that 32 member countries had agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil — the largest stockpile release in history — in an effort to drive down skyrocketing energy prices following Iran’s seizure of the Strait of Hormuz. Two days later, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson announced that Canada would add its own 23.6 million barrels to the mix. 

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“We will support this collective action with 23.6 million Canadian barrels, produced by our industry and co-ordinated with the federal and provincial governments,” Hodgson said in a statement. “More world-class Canadian energy exported around the world will support global market supply, which should help alleviate price increases Canadians are feeling at the pump.”

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According to Hodgon’s response to an order paper question submitted by Conservative MP Michael Kram on behalf of Conservative MP Kelly McCauley, however, the government never introduced policies aimed at hitting that threshold. 

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“The government is not using any legislative, regulatory or policy instruments to contribute to this collective action,” Hodgson said in response to Kram’s questions.

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Hodgon’s response reinforces the hollowness of Ottawa’s claim that it could partake in the IEA effort to begin with — a promise that was widely dismissed at the time given that Canada does not maintain its own strategic oil reserve. 

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As an oil exporting nation, Canada is exempted from the IEA’s mandatory requirement to hold such a stockpile. As the only G7 nation without one, Canada therefore can’t release stored supplies into the market as part of any joint international effort to ease commodity prices.

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The IEA action came after the closure of the key oil trading corridor, which thrust global markets into the biggest supply shortage in history and sent oil prices surging to over US$100 per barrel.   

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In its response to Kram’s questions, the natural resources ministry did not explain what specific role the Canadian government would or could play in contributing 23.6 million barrels. The department’s announcement of the plan was vague, saying only that the ramp-up in exports would be “co-ordinated with the federal and provincial governments.” 

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Calgary Liberal MP Corey Hogan, in a March interview with CBC, also didn’t offer any specifics about how the government would actually drive up production, saying only that the feds were in talks with pipeline firms and the provinces.

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Canada’s oil output is decided by private-sector producers — companies that raise or lower their production based on a range of factors like commodity prices, pipeline availability and maintenance schedules. 

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Those producers indeed ramped up their production in March 2026, shortly after the U.S.-Iran conflict caused oil prices to soar in late February. Canadian oil producers collectively produced 151.3 million barrels in March, according to Statistics Canada data, up sharply from 136.2 million barrels the month before. That production tapered off in April 2026, the latest month for which the agency has data, but the federal government expects output to continue to climb.