{"id":61823,"date":"2026-01-23T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=61823"},"modified":"2026-01-23T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:30:00","slug":"column-2026-to-be-a-big-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=61823","title":{"rendered":"COLUMN: 2026 to be a big year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>Premier Tim Houston stops by with his January column as submitted to media.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2026 is going to be a big year for Nova Scotia.<br><br>This isn\u2019t just classic new year\u2019s resolution rhetoric \u2013 it\u2019s a prediction based on just how many big projects and initiatives are on the horizon.<br><br>We are working to develop Wind West \u2013 an offshore wind energy transmission project that could meet about a quarter of Canada\u2019s energy needs.<br><br>At the end of April, bids will close for offshore natural gas exploration. Royalties from offshore gas brought jobs and prosperity to Nova Scotia in the past, and can do so again in the future.<br><br>By developing our wind, oil and gas, we can stop importing fuel. In fact, there\u2019s so much that we can meet our own needs while selling what we don\u2019t need to the rest of the world.<br><br>And we are committed to doing this safely. We are working with Dalhousie University to determine where onshore natural gas can be developed safely and to come up with rules and regulations that will allow us to do so responsibly.<br><br>These energy projects will drive our Province forward towards a more prosperous and sustainable future.<br><br>Sometimes the pace of government can seem slow. As Premier, I get that. It\u2019s why our government\u2019s motto is \u201cmore, faster.\u201d<br><br>It can take time to see progress because for any big project, be it a hospital, a highway or Canada\u2019s first offshore wind development, it needs designs, workers to be hired and construction.<br><br>Last year we told the world that Nova Scotia is saying \u201cyes\u201d to developing our natural resources. We modernized government policies and officially opened the calls for energy projects to begin.<br><br>Too often governments only focus on governing for the short term and it\u2019s easy for politicians to peddle \u201cquick fixes\u201d \u2013 but it\u2019s long-term projects like this that will bring good-paying jobs to Nova Scotia. And it\u2019s energy projects like these that bring in the revenue needed to pay for the services we depend on.<br><br>I\u2019m optimistic that 2026 is going to be a big year for Nova Scotia as our government unleashes the potential and becomes not only energy secure, but an energy exporter.<br><br>Tim Houston<br>Premier of Nova Scotia <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Premier Tim Houston stops by with his January column as submitted to media. 2026 is going to be a big year for Nova Scotia. This isn\u2019t just classic new year\u2019s resolution rhetoric \u2013 it\u2019s a prediction based on just how many big projects and initiatives are on the horizon. We are working to develop Wind [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,997],"tags":[10021,1923,1621,10163,10164,2714,1077,10165,2517],"class_list":["post-61823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-column","category-columns","tag-10021","tag-canada","tag-energy","tag-energy-exporter","tag-energy-sector","tag-natural-gas","tag-nova-scotia","tag-offshore-natural-gas","tag-premier-tim-houston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}