44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 5, 2022 02:00PM
- Oct/5/22 2:17:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the new Conservative leader will put people first: their savings, their paycheques, their homes and their country. Canada has the third-largest oil reserves in the world, yet due to Liberal policies, we import 130,000 barrels of oil a day because Liberals prefer to support dirty dictator oil as opposed to responsible Canadian energy.
Conservatives understand that when Fort McMurray works, Alberta works. When Alberta works, Canada works. Only Conservatives are fighting for pipelines and energy corridors to secure the long-term viability of Alberta energy and to get Alberta energy to the world. Conservatives will repeal Liberal anti-energy laws and replace them with a law that will protect our environment, consult first nations and get things built. We will support economic reconciliation with indigenous communities and, within five years, we will set a goal to end dirty dictator oil in Canada altogether.
We will not back down from politicians in this country and in this chamber who seek to land-lock and firewall our energy, leaving our workers without jobs. Canada and the world need Alberta energy.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question because it is really important. In fact, it is one of the reasons we need a national strategy, because we cannot do it province by province. That is one of the reasons the refineries, whether in western or eastern Canada or Ontario, were closed, because of a lack of competition. That has been the biggest problem we have, vertical integration in the industry. Therefore, one of the things we have to do to get investment in the industry is to get cleaner and greener, but more importantly to transition. That is why I think a lot of Alberta workers are also looking for options and real plans to deal with this. It is a complicated issue, but at the same time there are incredible possibilities. However, it is going to require a national strategy.
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Mr. Speaker, before speaking to Bill C-30, I want to look at what got us here today. When we look back at the history of the current government, which started in 2015, we see that there has not yet been a single budget that it has put forward that has been balanced. Every year, the government keeps borrowing more and more money. That is not to mention the carbon tax, which I will talk about later as well, and how much that is increasing the cost of everything that we produce.
I would like to tell a little story. Many times, when I am going to the airport, the cab driver will ask what I am going to the airport for. I will say I am going home, and they ask what I am doing here in Ottawa, so I say I am an MP. He puts a big smile on his face and he asks if I am a Liberal. I say no, that I am from Alberta, so I am a Conservative. He says, “Oh, the party that cuts and slashes.” I tell him that is one way of looking at it, but the way to really look at it is that we live within our means. I see a look on his face as though he is wondering what that is supposed to mean.
I explain it to him. Every year, if a person is driving a cab and makes $50,000 a year, for instance, but spends $80,000, how long are they going to survive financially, with borrowing or spending over $30,000? He says, “Well, not very long.” I say that is actually what the government is doing, year after year after year. I can see this look on his face that says, “This is actually going to have an impact on me.” Unfortunately, though, he makes another little smirk to say that it is okay, and that because government finances do not work the same as personal finances, it is okay for the government to borrow because it is not going to have an effect on us. Canadians now are realizing the effect of this borrowing year after year after year.
I know the government will talk about how, during COVID, it had to borrow so much money to do this. However, out of all the billions that the government borrowed, half of that actually went to COVID measures, and the other half went to various programs that the government had initiated. Therefore, there is quite a disconnect in the information that the Liberals talk about.
The next thing is that with the inflation rate that we have, it is hard to believe that the Liberals say wonderful catchphrases such as that inflation is a global phenomenon. That is like saying, “Where did this come from? We have no idea. It is just shocking.” I can understand that, when we have a Prime Minister who says he does not think about the financial program here, that he does not even think about monetary policy. That is what we get from a Prime Minister who is trying to run a country, so it is no surprise that our inflation rate is growing year after year after year.
Now, Canadians are looking for a reprieve. What is there to offer? It is double the GST back. Yes, it is a one-time payment that is going to help families, but really the cost of everything is escalating. It is unbelievable how families are not able to survive at this rate.
It is not only families. I think about the seniors I have spoken about. So many of them come to me and say, “What can we do? We had money in the bank. We had money in investments and they are just continually dropping. How can we survive?” They tell me that they planned into their eighties and nineties with no problems, but have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last while because of the inflationary prices that are going on to this day.
It is devastating what we are doing to Canadians here, and it is shameful what the Liberals have done to this country. That is what I am here to talk about the most: how they are not here to help Canadians. They love catchphrases. There is day care for $10 a day. It is great for young families; it is doing nothing for seniors, though. That is one of the things I really need to talk about.
I would like to thank the House for giving me this opportunity to speak to Bill C-30.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the hon. member that if there were restrictions in Saskatchewan or Alberta, most of those were provincial. The provincial government stepped forward and it did things to protect the citizens from catching COVID and overwhelming our already overwhelmed medical system.
I would like the member to reflect on the dolphin effect that Alberta and Saskatchewan and, perhaps, to a certain degree, Newfoundland and Labrador have gone through by depending so much on oil. There are times that are really good, and other times that are just absolutely atrocious for those provinces. We are seeing today that OPEC and Russia are getting together to cut the amount of oil they are producing to keep the prices high. It seems that we are under the thumb of some gangsters here by depending a lot on oil and oil revenues.
What would the hon. member propose to whatever government we end up with in Alberta and the Government of Saskatchewan to protect themselves and harden themselves from the variations in revenues they have seen from the oil patch?
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