Article content

CALGARY – The top executive at Canada’s largest integrated oil company said it would not embark on major new projects in the country because of burdensome regulations and uncompetitive tax rates.

Suncor Energy Inc. president and CEO Steve Williams said during an earnings call Thursday that his company would pare back spending in future years partly because Canada is not as competitive as other countries.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Suncor to shun major new projects amid Canada's 'difficult' regulatory environment Back to video

“We’re having to look at Canada quite hard. The cumulative impact of regulation and higher taxation than other jurisdictions is making Canada a more difficult jurisdiction to allocate capital in,” Williams said.

He made the comments Thursday, just before the federal Liberal government announced a regulatory overhaul for energy projects, creating the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and rebranding the National Energy Board as the Canadian Energy Regulator.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said in a release the changes would create an environment where “investors, companies and all Canadians can have confidence that good projects will be approved in a timely manner and held to the highest standard.”