44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 17, 2023 10:00AM
- Oct/17/23 11:25:07 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think that the member's speech is the best I have heard from a Bloc Québécois MP. It was an economic speech that criticized the Liberal government for its spending, which is causing inflation across the country. However, he then mentioned a statistic that comes from the New Democratic Party about the $88‑billion subsidies to the oil companies.
Is he prepared to talk about where exactly he got that statistic?
What is the source of the information he referred to?
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- Oct/17/23 11:39:49 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, apparently my Bloc Québécois colleague reiterated the hoax, the misinformation that his colleague was spreading, namely that the oil industry receives subsidies from this government. However, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, in 2021, Canada gave the oil sector only $7 million in subsidies. That is the lowest rate among 38 countries worldwide. Would my colleague like to repeat that misinformation and provide his source?
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- Oct/17/23 11:40:40 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find that amusing. My colleague knows I appreciate him. More than anything though, I like the facts to be accurate, and those figures come from one of the least transparent federal institutions. We do not know where Export Development Canada, or EDC, makes its investments, and it is one of the largest sources of taxpayer-backed public funding for oil.
What surprises me is that the Conservatives are right wing, but only until it comes time to help the oil companies. Then they move left. That is where they think government money is needed. That is where they think subsidies are needed. That is where they think protection and help are needed. Did the NDP and Bloc Québécois just make up the figure of $30 billion for Trans Mountain? Did EDC not send them that memo? At some point, we have to face the facts. The oil industry is a government-supported industry. It is incapable of controlling its costs, and without government assistance, there would be a lot less Canadian oil.
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- Oct/17/23 11:41:45 a.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I really appreciate the member's intervention. I am so glad that he focused on subsidies to major for-profit corporations. That is something that Nunavummiut northern residents have a major issue with.
As an example, the federal government, in 2022, between July and September, subsidized southern non-indigenous, for-profit corporations in the amount of $30 million. In three months, $30 million went to for-profit corporations.
Does the member agree that the $30 million could have done more by making improvements to indigenous peoples' lives if it was targeted to support hunters and trappers organizations that support their communities?
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- Oct/17/23 11:42:37 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will give a more general answer because I do not have all the information on that subject.
There are circumstances where it can be worth it to subsidize certain activities, like the clean energy transition and cases where there is unfair competition, for instance. Some subsidies that have been in place for a long time and have never been revised end up being a complete waste.
The basic principle that I stated earlier probably applies to the matter mentioned by the member. State resources are not unlimited. They come from taxpayers, from the janitor working the night shift and other hard-working people. These resources should not be redistributed to the people who need them the least. Most large publicly traded companies are among those who do not need them.
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- Oct/17/23 2:44:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this summer, the CEO of the Suncor oil company told his shareholders that he was fed up with the fight against climate change. Poor thing. According to him, Suncor has been too focused on the energy transition and needs to get back to selling oil, which means producing more oil and more pollution.
However, the federal government renewed $83 billion in subsidies in the last two budgets, particularly with the intention of helping oil companies reduce their pollution. Suncor admits that it cannot be bothered to pollute less, but that it still wants taxpayers' money. Greed is part of its DNA.
When will the federal government cut public funding to Suncor?
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- Oct/17/23 2:45:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have good news for my colleague.
We have already cut fossil fuel subsidies. We are the first G20 country to do so. We did it two years sooner than all of the other partners. We even went a step further. We committed to eliminating public funding as well, unlike any other G20 nation, and we will do so by next year.
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- Oct/17/23 2:46:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Suncor's CEO added insult to injury yesterday in committee. He thinks the energy transition is an exercise in futility.
Did members grill him during the meeting? No, the Conservatives protected him by preventing me from asking him questions. Not only that, but one Conservative actually apologized to Suncor on behalf of Canadians. The Liberals were just as bad because they never raised doubts about their subsidies, even though Suncor plans to produce more oil and pollute more.
Are the Conservatives and Liberals registered oil lobbyists now?
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