As Prime Minister Mark Carney embarked on an overseas trip that includes a stop in Australia, a liquid natural gas shipment from that country made the reverse journey, arriving in eastern Canada Thursday.

The delivery has sparked outrage among Conservatives and industry leaders, who find it absurd that a tanker spent a month traveling the globe to reach a country that sits on some of the world’s largest gas reserves.

“What the f–k? Eastern Canada needs natural gas? Sure wish they had asked Western Canada. Maybe build a pipeline?” said investor W. Brett Wilson.

“If only there were a faster way to get Canadian LNG to Eastern Canada…” mused Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, while sharing a picture of the unusually long journey of the tanker on social media.

Bloomberg reports this is the first time East Canada is receiving an LNG shipment from Down Under, as Australia looks outside its usual Asian markets for new clients due to a recent slump in demand in China. 

Meanwhile, Canada is achieving record natural gas production, driven by LNG Canada’s large-scale export project in B.C. 

In total, there are seven LNG projects in various stages of development across Canada, with two of them having recently been referred to the federal Major Projects Office. 

For its domestic market, Canada does have a 14,082 km pipeline that carries natural gas from Western Canada to markets in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces via the TC Energy mainline.

Eastern Canada’s decision to import this particular Australian LNG shipment ultimately boils down to global economics. The import terminal receiving the shipment supplies the Atlantic provinces, but also the northeast U.S. market. 

Calgary Liberal MP Corey Hogan, who sits on the natural resources committee, responded to Poilievre with some quick “napkin math” in a LinkedIn post. 

“A workable rule of thumb is ~$0.05 per MMBtu per 1,000 km of sailing distance,” he said. “That works out to about the same price per GJ as the toll on the existing TC Energy Mainline.” 

“While I am completely in favour of Canadian self-reliance and making sure we can fuel ourselves, there will always be imports, exports, swaps – and in a free market, that’s a good thing.”

Similarly, in the Upper Chamber on Thursday, Conservative Senator Leo Housakous expressed his outrage to Senator Pierre Moreau.

“Your government would rather import LNG from [25,000 kilometers] away than invest in our own natural resources right here in Canada,” he said. 

“Canada seeks to diversify trade relationships,” answered Moreau. “If the demand and infrastructure are there, the federal government will work to get Canadian products to market.”