The Honourable Tim Hodgson Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Opening Ceremony Speech G7 Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting
Speech
October 30, 2025 Toronto, Ontario
Check against delivery
Good morning, everyone. Bonjour, ohayō gozaimasu, ciao, hallo, kwe, shé:kon, aanii. Welcome to Canada. It is our pleasure to have you here.
Canada is honoured to host this year’s G7 Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting fifty years after the G7 first came together to confront challenging times, and now, once again, to rise to the tests — and opportunities — of a quickly changing world.
It is a privilege to open this session alongside my colleague, Minister Julie Dabrusin [Minister of Environment and Climate Change]. Together, we represent Canada’s conviction that prosperity, security and sustainability must be understood not as competing goals but as mutually reinforcing pillars of the same global mission.
The G7 was born from crisis. In the 1970s, when energy shocks threatened economies and global stability, our nations recognized that energy security was inseparable from economic security and that only through cooperation could we preserve stability, democracy and growth. That founding spirit remains the G7’s defining legacy.
Today, we face a new kind of energy crisis — one shaped by geopolitical tension, climate change and technological disruption. Just as the G7 once anchored the global response to oil shocks, we must now lead in shaping a new, secure and sustainable energy order.
As the G7, our leadership carries global responsibility. Our choices here will echo far beyond our borders, affecting lives and livelihoods around the world. This is something we must all take very seriously.
Over the next two days, our discussions in the Energy Sessions will focus on two interlinked priorities: energy security and critical minerals supply chains. This will include how both intersect with the rise of new technology, including artificial intelligence; the role of innovation, including in the nuclear energy sector; and support for democracy and national security around the world, including in Ukraine.
First, energy security. As we speak, energy markets are being reshaped by conflict, technology and the accelerating drive toward net zero. In all our countries, citizens require secure and affordable access to energy, investors are seeking clarity and confidence to deploy capital, and governments are working to deliver both climate ambition and economic growth.
To meet this moment, we must modernize and expand electricity infrastructure; strengthen natural gas security as part of a responsibly managed transition to low-carbon energy; and advance nuclear power, including small modular reactors.
The second pillar of the work we will undertake over the next two days is critical minerals — the indispensable building blocks of defence, technology and the energy transition. These minerals power electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics and sensors, high-performance materials and semiconductors, underpinning both industrial strength and strategic security.
At this meeting, we aim to follow up on the Leader’s Summit in Kananaskis and formally launch the Critical Minerals Production Alliance, a Canada-led initiative to secure transparent, democratic and sustainable critical mineral supply chains across the G7.
This Alliance stands as proof that the G7 can lead at a time of growing competition for resources while countering market manipulation and price volatility. It demonstrates that competitiveness and conscience can — and must — coexist.
Our task here is clear: to leave Toronto with a shared agenda for action, one that commits us to:
- building secure and resilient critical mineral supply chains through the Production Alliance;
- mobilizing private capital within and between our countries at scale by leveraging public finance and policy certainty;
- reinforcing support for Ukraine and democracies around the world; and,
- aligning innovation in AI, nuclear and electricity infrastructure with affordability and deployment at the speed and scale required.
There is little doubt our seven nations stand stronger together. But if we are to shape the twenty-first century on our terms as trusted partners, then the time for ambition without alignment has passed. Canada believes that the whole is stronger than any one part.
So let us leave this meeting not with promises but with progress. Together, we can turn this moment into a movement that strengthens our security, delivers prosperity for our citizens and builds the foundation for a sustainable and reliable energy future.
I sincerely look forward to our discussions, and I hope you enjoy your time in our beautiful country.
Thank you. Merci.