44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 17, 2022 10:00AM
- May/17/22 11:26:18 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this motion.
I should just mention I am splitting my time with the member for Calgary Centre.
I think today it is important for us to be clear about what is being debated. The NDP has a motion that references the high cost of gasoline, but it does not suggest what could be done. They are actually suggesting that we should see the prices increase.
I think it is good, and I think it is important, for the NDP to be transparent about its position. I think New Democrats have been abundantly clear as to what they want to have happen. They have said that they believe the oil and gas sector in the country of Canada should be shut down. They have been very clear. There is no ambiguity. They have said that the 500,000 jobs should be done away with, and they have an idea as to how they can get them employed in coffee shops or maybe art studios, but they want to see those jobs eliminated. They want to see the energy sector shut down.
They also want to see the price of gasoline driven up even further. They have been abundantly clear in that regard, but I think this is a bad strategy. I think this is a path to destruction and hardship for the vast majority of Canadians. The folks I am hearing from in my constituency are desperately concerned about the high cost of living and, over the past number of months, the devastating impact of high fuel prices on household budgets.
I live in a rural community. My constituency is a rural and northern community, so many of the folks who are employed in my constituency live in rural communities or they work in rural communities. They drive pickup trucks to get to work. Those are essential vehicles. They cannot take the subway, Uber or a Prius. They have to get into their pickups and they have to get to work, and many of these people are paying up to a day's wages to fill the tank of an essential vehicle to get to their jobs.
The NDP and the Liberals have worked together over the past number of months not only to maintain these high prices, but to elevate the price through their additional carbon taxes. As a matter of fact, it is estimated that taxation on gasoline amounts to about 50¢ a litre. Many politicians have talked about how bad it is that there is a high cost for gasoline. It is amazing. There is something we, as politicians, could actually do. As a matter of fact, the Province of Alberta, for a temporary period of time, did something. Its government eliminated some of the gas taxes, which brought relief to households in the province of Alberta. I believe the federal government should take a lesson from that, do what is the right thing to do and make life more affordable for Canadians from coast to coast.
Not only does the NDP want to see the price of gasoline go up, as I mentioned, but it wants to eliminate the industry altogether. Let us just think about that for a period of time. If we eliminate the sector in the country of Canada, a number of things would happen. Canadians would continue to need to use oil and gas, so we would import it. From where would we import it? We would import it from the same places every country does that does not import Canadian oil and gas. This means countries such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
I can tell members, Canadians and you, Madam Speaker, this, and I am hopeful my colleagues in the NDP and the Liberal Party are listening.
I know that Canadians do not want to see oil and gas flowing into Canada from places like Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, which have far lower human rights records and environmental stewardship records. I can tell members that, while the NDP may want to shut down the industry here in Canada, we have seen what happens when other countries attempt this. It means they become dependent on other countries and places for their fuel needs, and they become less able to diversify their own economies.
The price of fuel is at an all-time high, and the NDP is suggesting that the solution should be that we shut down the industry. New Democrats say we should shut down the subsidies.
As has been articulated by the government, and as has been articulated by the industry, these are actually not the subsidies the NDP would suggest. There are subsidies that take place within Canada relating to the oil and gas sector, and those are the significant subsidies the industry makes to the Canadian population. The taxes collected from the industry to the government in Canada amount to nearly $20 billion.
The NDP solution to the challenges that we face today is to shut down the industry, continue to see prices of gasoline rise and shut down the $20 billion in revenue that the industry pays into municipal, provincial and federal coffers. That $20 billion pays for roads, maintenance of our communities, health care systems, schools and universities, as well as the important services that the federal government provides. The NDP's suggestion is that, if we just eliminate this industry, all would be harmonious and we would happily continue on our merry way. The NDP gives no regard to the $20 billion that is invested from the industry every single year.
More importantly, the NDP talks about shutting down the industry, and it never talks about the important jobs that the industry creates, whether it is the 500,000 jobs the industry creates directly or the indirect jobs that are created in every community across this country. In the old days, the NDP used to be the defender of the blue-collar worker. It used to be the defender of rural communities. It used to be the defender of the little guy. The vast majority of the people who work in the energy sector in the province of Alberta and throughout the country are exactly the people who the NDP used to represent. Unfortunately, the NDP have now completely abandoned those folks.
In a community like mine, where we have a very diversified economy, with oil and gas, agriculture, forestry, a good service sector and a good retail sector, everybody in close proximity understands that their well-being is connected to everybody else's well-being. The retailer knows that if we shut down the energy sector, their energy costs would skyrocket, which they are of course opposed to, but they also understand the importance of their success being connected to the jobs that are created within in our community and the spinoff benefits within our community.
The thing the NDP conveniently likes to forget, when they talk about the environment and the need to transition from oil and gas to new energies, is that it would be following the path Kathleen Wynne's government took here in the province of Ontario. It spent billions of dollars—
An hon. member: Now, that is a dirty personal attack.
Mr. Chris Warkentin: Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague from the NDP—
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- May/17/22 11:42:48 a.m.
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We have run out of time. I have allowed for more time than was permitted.
I would like to remind members again that heckling and sharing their thoughts out loud is disrespectful when someone else has the floor. I would again ask members, because it has happened a lot this morning, to please hold onto their thoughts or write them down so they do not forget them. They will be able to ask a question or share their comments during questions and comments.
We will resume debate with the hon. member for Calgary Centre.
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- May/17/22 11:46:46 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point or order. I followed the member for Calgary Centre as closely as I could. He expected to have his wrist slapped, and if I understood him correctly, he called this motion from one of the hon. members of this place a “lie”, which is the same as saying that the hon. member for Victoria is a liar, unless I misheard him. Perhaps he can clarify.
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- May/17/22 11:47:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to speak to the point of order that was raised. To be clear, I was listening as well and I do not think there is any reason why the member for Calgary Centre should have expected to have his wrist slapped at all. He did not call any member of this chamber a liar; rather, he brought attention to the fact that lies are repeated, and that is a—
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- May/17/22 11:48:02 a.m.
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I actually ruled that this was not a point of order. Now it is becoming more a point of debate. The hon. member mentioned that he thought he might get his wrist slapped, which I did not do because of the way it was said, so I want to indicate that what is going on right now is more a point of debate.
The hon. member for Calgary Centre.
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- May/17/22 11:50:16 a.m.
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Unfortunately, my focus was somewhere else at the time. I will have to review what the hon. member said and come back to decide whether or not this is an actual point of order.
I want to remind members to make sure when they are debating that what they say is relevant and that they hopefully provide factual information.
The hon. member for Calgary Centre.
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- May/17/22 12:00:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I always enjoy listening to the member for Calgary Centre. This time, though, it was so unrelated to the facts that it was quite unbelievable. Here we have a situation where we know we are talking about $8.6 billion in subsidies last year alone. There were record profits in the oil and gas sector and at the same time, people were being gouged at the pumps. The Conservatives do not seem to recognize any of those realities.
I came out of the oil industry and worked at the Shellburn Oil Refinery in Burnaby, British Columbia. I also worked in social enterprise and won a number of business awards. I understand return on investment, but when Canadians are investing $8.6 billion in subsidies, and we are seeing the increasing cost of climate change now reaching billions of dollars a year that impact Canadians right across the country, why do the Conservatives continue to deny the reality of climate change? Why do they continue to deny the reality of subsidies? Why do they deny the reality of the important issue that is before the House today?
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- May/17/22 12:04:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I hope that my colleague from Calgary Centre was not offended by my little joke earlier. I loved his speech, and I barely missed a second of it.
The Conservative members spoke earlier about the billions of dollars the oil industry reinvests in society, and we have also heard about the extraordinary profitability of the sector. The first quarter of 2022 does show record profits for Canadian oil companies. At the same time, however, consumers are paying exorbitant taxes at the pump and then paying huge subsidies to the industry though their taxes.
I have a very simple question that should be easy to answer. Given the situation, would it not be better to reduce or even stop the subsidies—which I think would be even better—and redistribute the money in assistance to Quebeckers and Canadians? Our fellow citizens are having a hard time with the price of gas, but also with the constantly rising inflation and the impact of the price of gas on the economy overall.
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- May/17/22 2:09:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Dashmesh Culture Centre, including its president, Amanpreet Singh Gill, the entire executive committee, and the whole Calgary Sangat for a very successful and well organized Nagar Kirtan.
More than 100,000 people attended, and this was the first Nagar Kirtan since 2019. I commend the City of Calgary, Calgary Police Service, the EMS, Calgary Fire Department, Parks and recreation and Alberta Health Services for all their efforts in planning this very successful event. Special thanks to Calgary Transit for providing free transit to anyone in Calgary for the day.
It was a great honour to meet Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra, the wife of human rights activist, the late Jaswant Singh Khalra. She was recognized by the Gurdwara Sahib for all of her advocacy.
Kanwar Grewal also took time to attend the Nagar Kirtan. This event would not have been possible without the seva of hard-working volunteers like the United Hawks Sports Club and others, who ensured the grounds were kept clean.
I thank everyone who made the Calgary Nagar Kirtan a massive success.
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- May/17/22 3:18:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the answer to the member's question is, of course, “no”. We do not want to put oil and gas workers out of work. The oil and gas industry has been very good to Canada over the past decades. The member for Calgary Centre recounted in great detail how much benefit it has provided Canadians and Canadian workers.
However, that is not where we are going. What I am saying is we have to make sure that those workers who have good union jobs now will have good union jobs in the future, but those jobs are disappearing, whether they like it or not. A lot of those workers are rightly concerned about what they see. We have to invest in that future for them and their families.
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