SoVote

Mr. Robert Kitchen (Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC)

Mar/31/22 2:01:22 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, last week, members from the South Saskatchewan Ready partnership came to Ottawa regarding the phase-out of coal-fired electricity and the negative impacts it is having on rural communities. Only 3.5% of the funding given through just transition has been dedicated to economic development that would ensure SSR communities remain viable post-2030. A recent study shows that the coal transition could lead to a 67% loss in population and an 89% loss in household income, just for the Town of Coronach alone. The government implies the green jobs that are created will be in the areas where energy jobs are lost, but this is not the case. These jobs to build green infrastructure are not in rural ridings. Investing transition funding into community infrastructure will do absolutely nothing when there are no people left to use said infrastructure. Places like Coronach, Bienfait and Estevan deserve more from the government. I thank the members of SSR for their advocacy and dedication to the sustainability and future of these communities.

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Context: House Hansard - 50 - Mar/31/22

Mr. Randy Hoback

Mar/31/22 5:05:22 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, that is a great question. Why does the government have to subsidize them to come here in the first place? Ms. Julie Dabrusin: We didn't. Mr. Randy Hoback: Yes, we did, Madam Speaker. The Ontario government subsidized it. The federal government subsidized it. What was also promised into the future to get them to locate it here in Canada? Why did we have to do that? Why did we not just say that we have the critical resources and all the things we need to make a great battery here in Canada, plus the labour force, the tax base and infrastructure to do that? We do not have that because it is not developed. I find it really interesting that the trade minister was in the U.S. talking about electric vehicles when build back better is coming on and her selling point was that we have the critical minerals in Canada. We do, but they are in the ground and the regulations the Liberals have in place will keep them in the ground.

177 words

Context: House Hansard - 50 - Mar/31/22

Mr. Randy Hoback

Mar/31/22 5:07:21 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for a great question, and I agree with him 100%. Coming out of a crisis, we need that physical capacity to take the decisions we have to make. We had that fiscal capacity because we balanced our budgets in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and we maintained budgets, so that in 2008 when the great recession hit Stephen Harper had a buffer zone so he could spend money, keep the economy going and then balance the budget again in 2015. The current government needs a plan to balance its budget now so that, if we need to help people out as they come out of the crisis, we can help them. If we want to get to a green environment I am saying let us move there if that is where the world is going to go, but let us not take and throw away all the benefits we have right now that could pay for that changeover. Why not embrace them, take the royalties from oil and critical minerals, and use them to plan accordingly and build up our green energy infrastructure? I find it interesting that we would subsidize a car but not tell people how they are going to plug it in. We do not tell them where they are going to have to plug it in. We do not tell them that if they have a condo built in the 1970s there is no power grid that they can plug in to. Those are the things we need to solve and we need the resources—

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